Redux: The Pretender
by CeruleanSlane
Summary: The David trilogy is over, and the series continues. The Animorphs have lost one of their own, while gaining another. Now, Tobias discovers the answers to his family,and his heritage. The war has always been important, but now, for Tobias, it's personal.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome back, guys. Here's the first chapter in the next book, my take on Tobias discovering his heritage. I hope you enjoy it, and like the direction I take the series in after the David trilogy. Here we go.

Chapter One

My name is Tobias. It's a nice name, strong but unique. It sounds independent, or even important. I guess I was independent before all this happened, if you take no one caring where I was as independence. But I was never important. If you had walked past me in the mall, you'd just keep going. Unless you wanted my lunch money. I guess I was something of a bully magnet. But see, back then it didn't really matter. No one seemed to care what I was doing or who I was doing it with. So, if no one cared what happened to me, why should I? I guess that's why I never really stuck up for myself. It wasn't worth it.

I never really paid much attention to my name before everything changed. It was just a name. Now, it's pretty much the only thing that defines me as a human being. I like to think, someday, that it's a name that will be remembered. Maybe it's looking too far ahead, or childish or whatever. But I hope that, when this is all over, I won't be forgotten.

There are defining moments in our lives. There are moments when, through one choice our lives proceed along one path and through another, they proceed in a very different direction. Three of my life's defining moments happened in one week. The first occurred when I chose to go with the others through the construction site next to the mall. It was there that the Andalite ship crashed, and I met the being who asked us to save the world.

That's right, Andalite. Don't try to look it up, because it's not in any encyclopedia you could find. Andalites are aliens, as in, from another solar system. You couldn't mistake an Andalite for a human with big ears or a ridged forehead like you can on shows like Star Trek. When you see an Andalite, you know you're not looking at prosthetics. Picture a deer with blue fur and a sort of human upper body like a centaur. They don't have a mouth, but they have extra eyes to make up for it. They have the normal sort of eyes in the normal place, but they also have a whole other pair that are on stalks atop their heads that they can move around to see in every direction. To complete the alien effect, they have a long, scorpion-like tail that rears up above their shoulder. Andalites are definitely dangerous with those things. But they're not the bad guys. They came to help us, to stop the real bad guys from invading our planet. Those would be the Yeerks.

If you want to know what a yeerk really looks like, imagine a pale gray slug. They don't look dangerous at all. Actually in their natural form, the yeerk has no real defenses at all. But they are a plague. You see, a yeerk has the ability to squirm into the brain of another creature, through the ear canal. They flatten and spread themselves out, and take over. The person they crawl into is completely helpless. They have no control over their own body. So if you really want to know what a yeerk looks like, take a look around. The kid you walk to school with, the teacher that lets you off early, the policeman that comes to your school to talk about drugs, any of them could be a slave of the yeerks, a Controller.

The Andalite, whose name was Elfangor who crashed told us all this. We wanted to get him help, but he was too badly injured in his crash. And he knew the Yeerks would come for him, to destroy any evidence of his existence. They didn't want people to know about aliens, it would ruin their plan of a silent invasion, where they could gradually take over the world before anyone knew what was going on. But before they arrived, Elfangor said that we were the only ones who knew what was going on. We had to save the Earth.

I know what you're thinking. A group of kids are going to stop an alien invasion? Well, we weren't exactly bursting with confidence either. But Elfangor gave us one small weapon, one advantage. He gave us the ability to become, to transform into, any animal that we could touch. We could fight them with this morphing ability, taking on the form of animals to attack the yeerks any way that we could. It was a pathetic power when put against the might of the Yeerk forces, but it's all we have. It's all the Earth has.

The kids I was with, they weren't exactly friends at the time. I knew Jake, because he stopped some guys from picking on me in the bathroom at school once. So I figured he was cool and maybe I could hang out with him a little bit. I didn't expect him to suddenly be best pals, but I thought he wouldn't mind if I sort of stayed in his vicinity. That was the type of person Jake was, even back then. He had a charisma that drew people to him. I recognized it then, and thought that if I was around Jake, I wouldn't get picked on so much. Jake has a very personal stake in this war. His older brother, Tom, is one of them. Jake wants to set him free.

Jake's best friend was Marco. Everyone knows a Marco. He's the guy that's cute, funny, and thinks he's about ten times cuter and funnier than he actually is. Not that I noticed his cuteness or anything. It's just that girls tended to talk around me like I wasn't there. Most people were like that. If you weren't pushing me into a locker, I was invisible. Like Jake, Marco has a reason for fighting against the yeerks. His mother, who he spent two years thinking of as dead, is Visser One. A Visser is like a General. They lead the Yeerk Military forces. It was Visser One who prepared the Earth for the invasion before passing it off to another.

Then there was Rachel. On one hand, Rachel is beautiful. She's tall, with long blonde hair that seems to shimmer in the right light. So you could easily mistake her for a helpless model. On the other hand, that would be the fist she decks you with because you called her helpless. She's a great girl, but woe to the person who underestimates her.

The other human person we began this war with is no longer with us. Her name is Cassie, and she was Rachel's best friend. She was gentle, kind, and a champion for nature. Her parents are both vets, so she sort of grew up with that saving things mentality. She was a remarkable girl, but she's moved beyond us. I mean that literally. A nearly all-powerful being named the Ellimisttook her as his sort-of assistant and now she's off saving entire species. Which, I guess is what she always wanted to do. Actually, it's more complicated than that, but it's not my story to tell.

Where we lost Cassie, we gained someone else. Melissa Chapman, the daughter of the school's vice-principal, who happens to be one of the most important Controllers on the planet, found the blue box that Elfangor used to give us our powers. After she saw the morphing in action, we had to tell her what was going on. She chose to join us in our fight. I know she believes that she will someday be able to free both of her parents from the yeerks control. The same way Jake wants to save his brother, or Marco with his mother. She's smaller than Rachel, actually even smaller than Marco, who is pretty short. She's also got blonde hair like Rachel, but Melissa's is much paler, almost white.

Then there's Ax. His real name is Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill. He's an Andalite, like Elfangor. Actually, he's Elfangor's little brother. Ax was left here when the Andalite ship was destroyed, stranded as the only survivor. Now he fights with us, cut off from his people, fighting for a planet that isn't even his. His stake runs personal as well though. When Elfangor was killed by Visser Three, the only yeerk to ever take over an Andalite body, it became Ax's responsibility to slay his brother's killer. His honor depended on it, and honor is a very important thing to the Andalites.

As for me, I never thought I had a real personal reason to be in this war. I mean, other than saving the planet, there wasn't anything special that drove me to fight the yeerks. At least, I didn't think there was, until I found out what the second defining thing to happen to me in that week was. But at the time, I didn't even know it had happened. I wouldn't find out until much later, just how important that construction site meeting had really been.

At the moment, I was looking for lunch. But I wasn't going to a Taco Bell or digging through the fridge. No, instead I was sitting in a tree, watching the grass twitch ever so slightly as the nice plump mouse ever so cautiously poked his way out of his hole. In a moment, he'd be far enough out and I would spread my wings and swoop down. It would be a quick kill, because my talons are sharp and I have no desire to make it suffer. Then I'd eat.

I know you're probably grossed out right now, but I don't have a lot of choice in the matter. You see, I'm still Tobias the boy who was picked on, but I'm also Tobias the red-tailed hawk. That morphing power that I told you about? It comes with a price. If you stay longer than two hours, that's your body, period. When I became stuck in this form, that was the third defining moment of my life in the same week. For the longest time, I thought that I'd be always be a hawk, with no choice in the matter. Then the Ellimist gave me my power to morph back. However, hawk is still my 'original' form. I can even morph into my old human body. But after two hours I have take my wings back, or I'll never be able to morph, which means I won't be able to fight. I have to fight this war. Now more than ever.

The mouse was out of the hole. It was lunchtime. I shifted on my branch and prepared to dive, about to launch myself from the tree when a voice called out my name. I froze, or at least my brain did. Unfortunately, I was already in mid-lunge so I didn't so much soar off the branch or freeze in place as try to do both at the same time, resulting in a really goofy looking dive straight from tree branch ten feet down into the dirt. (Aaaaaaahhh!!) Oh well, at least I had the presence of mind to scream like a little girl. I wouldn't want to leave the humiliation incomplete or anything.

I heard rushing footsteps, and then gentle hands pulled me out of the dirt. They set me down again and I shook myself off. (I'm fine. I'm fine. What is it?) Looking up, and well, up since hawks are short, I found Rachel and Melissa both looking down at me with concern.

Rachel, who had set me up, asked. "Are you okay? Tell me you meant to do that."

(Of course I did.) I responded huffily while testing my wings. Luckily, nothing seemed broken. (It's a new sport I'm inventing. I'm not sure what I should call it. How about Dirt Divers, what do you think?) I flapped up to land in a lower branch and turned to glare at them. Not that I was angry. It's just that a hawk only has the one expression.

"What about Concussion Seekers?" Melissa suggested while putting both hands on the ground, turning over into a handstand. Melissa and Rachel are both gymnasts. I guess Melissa's more into it than Rachel has been lately.

(That's a good one.) I peered down at the girl, who was now fully upside down and holding it. (Do you have any idea how distracting that is?)

Melissa smiled just a little and nodded. "Sure. But so is your habit of flying off to kill a rodent whenever everyone's talking."

(I only did that the one time. And that was to get ammo in case Marco pissed me off again.) I ruffled my feathers a little and eyed that mouse one more time.

"Guys, we came here for a reason." Rachel cut in. "And also, ewwww." She shot me a look before glancing to other girl. "Melissa found out something, Tobias. You should hear it." She sounded a little hesitant, excited but nervous. I wasn't sure why.

Melissa pushed off her hands and fell over into the dirt, rolling back to her feet with a cough. "Yeah, Tobias... I ummm, I've been listening to my parents. You know, in case anything happens." Both her parents were important controllers, so it made sense that she might over hear something that could help us. "My dad, he's been really... absent lately. Even more than usual. He's spent the last week muttering to himself and telling my mom, that is, the yeerk in my mom, that nothing's wrong. But he keeps going through all these old year books, and the phonebook. Like he's looking for someone."

She trailed off, and I was confused. "Okay, so Chapman... I mean, Mr. Chapman is looking for someone. So? Is it someone I can help find?"

Melissa frowned and looked down with a thoughtful look, so Rachel answered. "Melissa says that her dad got really excited last night. He said 'There's a boy', but then he got mad again when he looked through his records to find out who it was. He stormed out, so she snuck down and got a look at his records. He was looking at our class from last year. Tobias, he was looking at you."

That threw me. (At me? Why would he look at me? You think he's noticed I'm not living anywhere I'm supposed to be?) When I was trapped, we set it up so my aunt would think I was living with my uncle, and vice versa. Not that either of them showed that much interest anyway, but it was best to avoid attention. We didn't want the yeerks having any reason to think I was a part of this and going from me to the others.

This time Melissa answered. "That thing my dad kept muttering, like it was a ummm... a memory. It was like a memory he couldn't quite fully get. The only thing I ever understood about his mumbling was the name Loren."

I froze. Loren had been my mother's name.

Rachel's next words echoed around inside my mind for a long time. "Tobias, we think Chapman knows your mother somehow. We think she's important to the yeerk that's controlling him. And he's looking for her."

There was just one problem with that theory. My mother was dead. Wasn't she?


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys. Glad you're enjoying Tobias's 'voice'. :) And I'm doubly glad that you like the portrayal of Melissa. I did want to get into a little more description of her right there since I had a chance and some 'downtime' to do so. Oh, and Mickie, I will definitely be trying to keep Loren acting more like her AC self and not her Late Animorphs self. I hated how passive they made her.

Belle, I will most definitely be including more obvious and overt Rachel/Tobias. Not just the hints and occassional 'date'. They will progress in their relationship, I swear!

Also, Mickie is right. They made Cassie a temporal anchor or whatever they called her in the books, so sooner or later my 'alternate reality' would have fizzled. However, that's not an issue now, because I moved her. So we're good to continue! Oh, and I have a good joke about that whole name thing when Melissa eventually does her own narration.

Oh, to address a problem in the last chapter. Melissa didn't call her father 'Mr. Chapman'. That line should have belonged to Tobias. I just messed up the thoughtspeak signs in that paragraph. So that bit is Tobias, not Melissa. That might make it make more sense.

Anyway, here's the next bit. Hope you like it. I've gotta run now. Just barely finished this chapter in time to post.

Chapter Two

An hour later, Rachel and Melissa had gotten Jake and Marco while I found Ax at his scoop. Now everyone was gathered by the tree in my meadow. As usual, Marco was complaining.

"All I'm saying is, Batman has the Batcave. Superman has the Fortress of Solitude. Even the friggin Power Rangers had their command center. What do we have?" He gestured around the field. "Weeds. Not that it isn't great for you, Tobias, but I'm thinking recliner and a big screen. Maybe a fancy garage."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Marco, you don't have a car. Furthermore, you can't drive." Everyone was avoiding the subject of why we couldn't meet in our usual spot, Cassie's barn.

Kicking aside a rock with a look of distaste, Marco settled against the tree next to mine. "Hey, we've only got fourteen months before we can get permits. Then we'll have a brand new AniCar." He paused and took in the reaction to that. "No? Morphermobile? You people are no fun."

Shaking his head, Jake corrected him. "No, I meant you literally can't drive. Ever. We put it in the group charter."

Blinking, Marco questioned. "Hey, when did we get a charter?"

Jake smiled thinly. "When we realized we needed something in writing forbidding you from ever driving again. Trust me, the trash cans are thanking us right now."

Pointedly ignoring Marco's objections, Rachel looked to me. "What do you know about your mother, Tobias?"

I thought back. (Not much. I was pretty much a baby when she...) I paused. I'd been about to say 'died'. But Chapman obviously thought she was alive. "... disappeared, I guess. I don't remember much about her. Or my father.) I hesitated before sighing. (Actually, I don't remember anything at all about my father. For all I know, he could alive too.) I was grateful then for the hawk's glare. It made it easy not to show the hurt I felt at the idea that both of my parents could be alive and never have wanted me any more than my aunt and uncle did. Actually, even less.

Marco spoke up then. "I think the better question is, why would Chapman be looking for her? What connection does Tobias's mother have to Chapman or the yeerks?"

All of us turned to look toward Ax, who stood in his natural Andalite form, keeping a wary stalk eye pointed toward the edge of the field. I was watching for anyone approaching as well. Even though we'd mostly gotten used to Ax's appearance, he'd completely freak out anyone that happened to stumble across us. Not that it was very likely. The only time anyone had a chance of sneaking up on a hawk was at night. During the middle of the day, like this, forget it.

Slowly, Ax responded to everyone looking at him. (I do not know of any contact between the Earth and the yeerks during the time during or before the time that Tobias's mother would have vanished.) His stalk eye turned to Marco, as we all thought about what happened to Marco's own mother. (But I could easily be mistaken. My irrelevent species class was rather long and I didn't care for it.)

Rachel shot Ax a look. "Who're you calling an irrelevent species, furbutt?"

Ax lowered his tail in what I'd come to know as an Andalite gesture of surrender. (I was not speaking on Human merit. But that is the name of the class where you are discussed. It was only one session.)

Shrugging, Marco stepped over to Ax. "Sure, we only merit one boring session in a boring class now. But wait until your people get ahold of our sticky buns. They'll have mandatory six month on site courses."

Noticeably perking up, Ax swung his stalk eyes around. (There are delicious sticky buns?)

"No sticky buns, Ax." Jake shook his head. "We need to find out what Mr. Chapman knows about Tobias's mother."

Sitting cross legged on the ground, Melissa asked. "What about that..." She trailed off, obviously trying to remember. "The uhhh... Chee. If it's a yeerk thing, maybe they'd know."

"Maybe..." Jake frowned doubtfully. "But if, like you said, he's been keeping it from your mom too, then maybe the rest of the yeerks don't know about it. Anyway, we should ask. So we need one group to go find out what the Chee know and another group to infiltrate--" He cut himself off and blushed slightly. "I mean uhh, go with Melissa to her house and see what Mr. Chapman has."

"I volunteer to visit the Chee." Marco said quickly. "Fate of the world or not, no one will ever get me willingly into an assistant principal's house. That place is evil."

"Marco." Rachel glared at him to shut up and glanced back over to the other girl.

Melissa shrugged and spoke quietly. "It's okay. I'm used to it. Even before he became an evil slug parasite bent on world domination. Kids just don't like Principals." A light scowl settled over her face. "But I took back that world's greatest dad mug." This was accompanied by a nod of satisfaction, like she had accomplished a great victory.

(I'm going into Chapman's place.) I announced. I'd thought it through, and didn't think the Chee had anything. Erek was usually quick to let us know something, and if the yeerks were openly looking into my parents, he would have told us. (I want to see what he's got.)

"Okay." Jake agreed and looked around at all of us. "Ax should go too, in case they've got security. Rachel has reason to be there. So, Tobias, Rachel, and Ax go with Melissa. Marco and I will go talk to the Chee. And guys, be careful. Have a cover story for why you're there. School project, something believable that he won't check up on."

"Yes, daddy." Rachel teased before looking up to me with a wink. "Come on, this'll be easy."

(Aww man.) I muttered. (I really wish you hadn't said that.)

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"I really really wish you hadn't said that." I repeated, awhile later as we all stood in Melissa's living room. Both of her parents were out, and Ax had searched the place for any recording devices. He found several, and reprogrammed them to show nothing of our visit. But he wasn't having as much luck with the security on Chapman's computer.

I was shifting from foot to foot, uncomfortable on two legs. "Have you got it yet, Ax?" I looked out the window again, half expecting to see a squad of Hork Bajir running up the steps. Not that I didn't trust Ax when he said there was nothing recording us and no alarm. I just hated not having my wings. It made me jumpy.

"Very nearly." Ax, in his own human morph, was bent over his task. He was so engrossed that he didn't even play with the sounds like he usually does when he's playing human. "The Yeerks have upgraded their security protocols. It should not be long."

Rachel sighed and tapped her foot impatiently. "We should have been in and out of here by now."

"It's okay." Melissa said from where she sat in a recliner holding her cat, Fluffer McKitty. "They won't be back." There was a hint of her old sadness as she added softly. "They're never back."

Finally, Ax called out. "I have it! Now..." His fingers danced over the keyboard. "This is a very inefficient way of communicating with technology. A simple thought-speak program would increase the speed and reliability by several times--"

"We'll get right on inventing that, Ax." Rachel interrupted. "Just tell us what we need to know. What about Tobias's mother?"

Ax ran the search, and then we all crowded around and leaned forward to read the screen. I squinted and muttered. "Stupid human eyes. You people are blind. Apes my butt. We must have evolved from moles."

Rachel read from the screen. "Graduated from high school in... wait, what?" She read back over the past few lines. "This doesn't make sense. If you look at the time from her birth to graduating high school, that's eighteen years. But if you look at the time from middle school to graduating high school, that's only two years. There's like four years missing. What is this, Boy Meets World?"

I blinked in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"See, look." Rachel touched the screen. "Born in this year and graduated in this year. Eighteen years. But she started middle school in this year and graduated high school two years later. It's like... someone changed all the records in high school but forgot the middle school ones."

Melissa frowned and asked tentatively. "What would do that?" Her eyes drifted from the computer screen to me. "And why?"

"I don't know." I said. "I told you, I don't remember her. What else is there?"

Rachel continued to read. "She got married pretty soon out of college. Some guy named Alan. They took her name. You think that's your dad?" When I shrugged, she checked. "Chapman can't find anything at all on him. According to these records, he just shows up at the university one day and signs in. He disappeared a few years later. No sign of him at all in all this time. Your mom's been a little busier. It says she went to a bunch of therapists after your dad vanished. She saw hypnotists too. And.. spirit advisors. And a bunch of other mojo junk peddlers. It's like she was looking for something. Or trying to remember something."

"What would she be trying to remember?" Melissa asked after a moment of quiet while we all looked at each other.

Rachel shook her head and went on. "After that she went to a bunch of government agencies. She was... " She paused and looked up at me quickly before going on. "She was reporting an alien invasion. She said they took her husband back and made her forget him, but she still had pieces. She said they were coming, and they'd get into everyone's heads."

It was so quiet after Rachel stopped talking that you could have heard a pin drop. Finally, I found my voice. "She knew... my mom... she knew. She knew and she left."

"Tobias..." Rachel put her hand on my back, sounding strained. "Maybe she had to get out of the way. Maybe she--"

I gritted my teeth. "Keep going. I want to hear what happened to her."

Hesitating, she finally turned back to the screen. "There's not much else here. She became a teacher. She worked with real little kids. I guess this is after she left... after you stopped seeing her. She kept active in all these UFO groups. But mostly it says she worked with kids. Maybe she missed you."

I refused to let the mixture of hope and anger show. "Anything else?"

Rachel watched my face for a reaction before sighing a little and looking back over the information. "That's about it. She vanished completely three years ago. No one knows where she is. She just showed up for one last day of school and..." Suddenly, Rachel's eyes widened. "Oh my god."

"What?" I said quickly. "What is it?"

Looking from the screen to me, Rachel spoke quickly. "She only saw three students just before she left. Three kids. Two of them moved away. But one of them is still around. The last person to see your mother still lives here, Tobias. And Chapman just found out about her."

"What?" My mouth fell open and I shut it. "We have to find out who she is, where she lives."

Rachel was already standing. "We already know all that."

"We do?" Now all three of us were staring at her while she seemed to have moved into mission battle mode.

Casting a look over her shoulder as she started for the door, Rachel snarled. "Yeah. The last kid to see your mother? It was Karen, Tobias. The girl that Cassie met. The girl that had a yeerk before Cassie convinced her to let the girl go. The girl who knows who we are."

Now I got it. Jerking out of my frozen state, I started to demorph. I needed my wings back, and fast. Beside me, Ax was doing the same. Rachel and Melissa looked to each other before starting to morph into their own birds. I said the words that we were all thinking.

(If Chapman goes to Karen expecting to find a willing yeerk to give him information and doesn't find one, he'll drag her down there and stick one in her head. And if he does that...)

If he did that, we were all completely hosed.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Meiza, thanks for commenting on the mug line. I thought that was funny. Glad to see someone else did too. And it helps to see her character a little better. Hopefully you keep enjoying the development, both of her and of the plot.

Niori, I am right with you. Loren's characterization in the main series always pissed me off, because she acted completely different from her AC self. Yeah, I get that people get older, but that was entirely too jarring. She should at least resemble the character we were introduced to. I hope you like her when she's introduced in this story.

Sarah, I haven't entirely decided if the Chapman name will be fake or not. We'll see. I'll need to read through and see exactly what they said about last names.

Aarik, that's great! Thanks for sharing my fic with other people. I welcome people helping me improve.

Astrid, thanks! I liked morphermobile too. Too bad no one else will go for it.

Anyway, here's the next chapter, guys. Hope you enjoy reading it.

Chapter Three

It took half an hour to fly across town to where Karen's house was. Finally, I spotted it below. (There it is. The one with the big deck out back set just above the hill.) We were spread out over about two hundred yards, since the idea of birds of prey flocking together is enough to make even the most amateur bird watcher realize there's something not quite right going on.

(They appear to have made a mistake in the course of construction.) Ax spoke thoughtfully. (The apparatus that humans use to clean themselves is outside. Which is of course where any Andalite would put it, but Marco and Tobias have made it clear that humans are to bathe inside. Unless they are 'at the pool' to do what is called 'scoping chicks'. But what is a chick and how does one scope it?"

(Yes, Tobias.) Rachel started a false pleasant tone that was entirely too dangerous. (Please tell us what a chick is.)

(I... uhh. No habla English.) I started a steep dive to check out the house.

Rachel followed from the other side. (Coward.)

(Damn straight.) I replied. (Would you want to piss you off?)

She thought about that. (No. Definitely not.) Then she laughed. And I laughed a little, and it was almost like we were normal. Except for the fact that we were a few dozen meters apart on opposite sides of a house, peeping through windows with bird eyes. Leo and Kate we were not.

Then again, Leo drowned in icy water, so maybe I'd rather be Tobias after all. With my luck, it would be shark infested icy water. Mutant shark infested icy water. I don't have the best luck with water. We have an understanding though. I stay out of it as much as possible and it doesn't drown me.

(Found her.) Rachel reported a moment later after we had a chance to peer through the windows. She had better luck than I did since eagle eyes are designed to see through the reflective surface of the water. (She's in the living room on the east side. Looks like she's watching Spongebob.)

Ax piped up from above where he and Melissa were circling. (Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?)

We were all silent for a long moment, until Ax added somewhat sheepishly. (I have three hundred and fifty human television channels and entirely too much free time.)

(Aaaanyway.) I said, changing the subject. (We've got a chance here if Chapman hasn't made it yet. He probably had a meeting or something. It's Saturday, so he could be done any time.)

Melissa spoke up. Her small merlin had to be getting tired. I knew I was. (How do we do this?)

(Like this.) Rachel replied and went straight for the window. (Hey, Karen!)

(Oh, right. Silly me.) If it were possible, Melissa would have been rolling her eyes just then. (Trying to balance a little girl's emotional stability with the urgency of the situation, carefully weighing each action and reaction when all we had to do is yell 'hey, karen'.)

(I remember emotional stability. That was was fun while it lasted.) I quipped before going on. (She's had a yeerk in her head. She knows what's going on. She's seen us.)

(Oh yeah. Well....) She responded a little slowly. (I know what's going on. I've seen you. I can turn into a bird too. But it still freaks me out. I just thought that umm... maybe suddenly screaming her name in her head might umm... hurt more than it helps?)

(Sure, but you know. Rachel's idea of patience is not beaning Marco with a rock before he's had a chance to tell his joke.)

Her thought-speak voice came back, softer then. (You sound proud of that.)

I hesitated, then responded. (Yeah, I guess I am.) Rachel could be violent, crazy, and tempermental. But she was my violent, crazy, tempermental girl. Or at least as mine as we had ever had the chance to work with in this insane world we lived in. There was something there, something strong there, but somehow we constantly skirted the edges of it, never directly confronting the feelings we had. At least the feelings I had. I wasn't positive about Rachel, but I thought... maybe. And trust me, when you have a girl like Rachel, and can think that she maybe feels that way about you, it's enough to let you wait.

That or I was just a coward, like she said.

Rachel called up to us. (Karen's coming out on the deck. She's home alone.) She arced around the side of the house and the three of us followed suit, each finding a spot on the railing to perch as the little curly red haired girl stepped outside.

Stopping as she found four birds of prey staring at her, Karen hesitated. "Ummm. Cassie?"

(Ouch.) Rachel muttered, then hopped down to the deck. (Keep an eye out. I'm gonna demorph so she can talk to me.) Even as she spoke, the already large bald eagle was growing bigger as the feathers slowly began to dissolve. Karen was watching with rapt fascination.

(I'll watch for Chapman.) I said, then amended for Melissa. (I mean your dad.) I took off once again, but I didn't go far. I just flapped hard a couple times and landed on the top edge of the roof where I could perch and view the road. From here I'd be able to see Mr. Chapman's car coming when he was still two minutes away. It was safer to have a look-out, and that was my job. Besides, I didn't really want to hear Rachel explain to that little girl what had happened to Cassie.

I was only waiting for about ten minutes when I spotted it. Just turning onto the road was the white suv I'd seen in Melissa's driveway several times. That had to be her father. I focused on the windshield and confirmed it a moment later. He was talking on his phone angrily. (Rachel, guys.) I called down there. (We're going to have company in a minute.)

Rachel responded with a hint of annoyance. (Karen's having... issues. You're going to have to stall him.)

Groaning, I pushed off into the air. (Issues, what issues? And stall him? Rachel, that's five thousand pound car. I'm a three pound birdy. How does this end? And why are you morphed?)

Rachel grumbled. (Something about not wanting to trust us because of a mean monkey. Not without Cassie. I changed places with Melissa. She's better with kids. And you took out that yeerk tanker ship. That was like a hundred times bigger than this little thing.)

(I was armed that time, but thanks, Rach. Real encouraging. I'll remember to paint a new silhouette on my beak after this.) I flew from the house then, while the SUV was still a minute out. Here went a few pounds of nothing against several tons of metal. Round one. Ding!

This was going to be tricky, beyond even the obvious. I had to somehow avoid tipping Chapman off that we were protecting Karen, because if he figured that out, the girl would never be safe. He'd hunt her down. The entire yeerk armada would be after Karen. We couldn't protect her from that kind of search, not for long. So he couldn't connect us to her.

Chapman had to slow for a stop sign about three blocks from Karen's home. That was my best, my only chance. I pumped my wings hard, trying to build up height and distance while circling around to the right spot. As fun as flying is, it's also a lot of work sometimes. Especially when you're trying to be quick. This was dangerous, insane, and highly stupid. And Rachel was going to be pissed as anything that she missed it.

I was going to have to time this just right. Chapman would stop for the sign because the very last thing any yeerk, any yeerk besides the Visser that is, wanted was to draw attention to themselves. He was in a position of authority. He'd stop for the sign, but he wouldn't linger. I had to start my attack before he actually stopped, or he'd be gone by the time I got there.

The stop sign was coming up. I groaned inwardly before spilling the air from my wings as I tucked them tight and dove, homing in on a spot ahead of the SUV. (Awww man, this is gonna suck.) I said to myself before restraining the hawk's natural urge to call its challenge. The vehicle was directly under me now, when the brake lights came on. It slowly coasted to a stop, and I saw Chapman's head turn left, then right. The brake lights went off then as he prepared to step on the gas. But I was there. I hit the right rear wheel from an angle, trimming my left wing sharply to bank at the last second while I dug both talons sharply into the tire and ripped, the way I would into a rabbit.

My talons stuck for just a second before ripping through the tough material. But that second was long enough for my wing to catch the side of the car. I felt the wing snap instantly and cried out as I was bounced off the wheel well before thankfully being flung sideways into the field of weeds along the edge of the road. I hit hard, bouncing twice before coming to a stop with my poor broken bird body lying in the dirt. Shakily, I raised my head to look at the massive metal machine. (All right.) I said groggily. (We'll call that a tie.)

Thankfully, the vehicle didn't get far before the wrecked tire forced Chapman to pull to the side. I heard him cursing as he slammed the door to get out. Then I laid my head back. I should probably let the others know that they had a few minutes while he changed the tire. I'd do that in a minute. Right now I was just going to close my eyes for a minute. Just gonna take a tiny little nap, and forget the excruciating pain in my broken wing.

I was woken some time later by a sharp pain in my wing that made me cry out. I blinked my eyes open and saw Rachel through bleary vision. She was lifting me out of the weeds. "Shhhh. It's okay. He's over there. Be quiet, okay?" She was whispering. My eyes closed briefly before snapping open again suddenly. That hadn't been Rachel's voice. I squirmed in her grip. Trap! It was a trap! Chapman had figured out what happened and brought in back-up. She was taking me off to be infested.

Weakly, I started to call out a challenge, but her hand caught my beak and held it shut as she shushed me and backed away through the weeds. "Shhh! Look, Andalite, I'm getting you out of here, okay? Just be quiet for a second, because don't think you want Chapman to find you any more than I want him to find me. I was watching him and saw what you did. You've gotta be an Andalite, right? You've got to be one of those bandits."

She carried me away from the weeds, back through the opposite side of the field. I managed to lift my head enough to see her clearly, and then I froze. I nearly cried out for a completely different reason. The girl carrying me wasn't a girl. She was a woman. And beyond that, even though I hadn't seen her in years, I knew without a doubt that she was my mother.

My mom was carrying me away from Chapman's car.

My mom knew about the yeerks, about the andalites, about everything.

Except that she was carrying her son

I struggled for an entirely different reason now. I had to see her better. I had to see my mother. Misinterpreting me, she shushed me again and held me up once we were hidden by the trees. "You're an Andalite. I know you are. So you can thoughtspeak. Talk to me. Please. Just tell me one thing." She paused and then spoke in a pained, but hopeful voice, her words irrevocably changing my life.

"Is my husband with you? Do you know where Elfangor is?"


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, everybody. Call me evil, but I'm glad you all hated that I left off at that particular point. It keeps you coming back for more, which is really what I live for.

Meiza, Loren was completely upfront about her relationship with Elfangor because of a couple reasons. For one, it's been years since she saw him and she was worried. She WAS/IS in love with him after all, and that tends to make people not think completely straight. Also, it wasn't so much that she thought they would accept the marriage right off as she wasn't going to give them the chance to not accept it. As far as she is concerned, Elfangor is her husband, and what they accept or don't accept is their own problem.

Sauron's Toe, awww rats, almost a marriage proposal but you don't like people? I was _this _close.

Everyone who said that the original Pretender where there was literally no reaction to Tobias finding out who his father was annoyed them, it did me too. I'm glad you're enjoying this story, I really am, but I'd probably write it anyway even if no one read it, just to give an actual honest REACTION to that bombshell that the real series never gave.

And for the several people who have asked if the lost hork-bajir will be involved in this story, you find out in this chapter. So here you go. Enjoy it!

Chapter Four

From this day onward, I will fear no heart attack. I will live immune from stroke. I will laugh at the idea of an aneurysm. Because if it had been physically possible for me to ever suffer any of those things in my lifetime, they would have occurred simultaneously at that moment.

Absolutely nothing could have prepared me for those words. Out of anything that she could have said at that point, calling Elfangor her husband was my mother's nuclear trump card. For long moments after she asked me about him, my mind came to a screeching halt. She was calling him her husband. She knew Elfangor. She knew everything. My mother was... Elfangor's wife? How was that even possible?! Did that mean...

I must have made a strangled, confused noise, because my mother stopped to roll her eyes. "Yes, Andalite, your precious warprince Elfangor went and married a lowly human. Here's a tip, get over it. The yeerks, they say that he's dead. They say that creep killed him. Tell me they're wrong. It's just stories, just bragging. Tell me where Elfangor is. He has to be leading your group. No one else would know earth the way you guys have to, doing everything that you've done. Only someone whose lived here would know how to keep you hidden. Only someone from Earth could manage that and he's the only one of you that's lived here, so where is he? Tell me!" There was a note of desperation in her voice, like this was the only thing she was holding onto, and even if she had been of no relation to me at all, my heart would have broken for her then, knowing what I knew.

Elfangor had lived here, he'd been on earth, probably for years. He was married to my mother! My mother was his... did that mean that I was... that he was...

(Elfangor was my father!) The realization came to me and I blurted it out even before I realized what I was saying. But it made sense. The pain I still felt about his death, the closeness I'd felt to him even in that short time, all of it made sense. It all fit, but it was all insane. Elfangor couldn't be my father, could he? Was it even possible for a morphed creature to... well yeah I guess that was a stupid question. And one I absolutely did not need to think about just then. My mind was already bent in half.

I realized that I'd said the words outloud a second later as Loren stared at me. Her eyes were wide, and for a second I thought she'd realized who she was holding. Then she spoke quickly. "Ohhh god, your father? He had children back with his own people... of course he did." She shook her head as though trying to cope with that idea. "Of course he would, right? I'm sorry, all this must be crazy for you. Look, just... demorph, okay? It's safe here, trust me." My mother gave me a warm smile and I felt my heart turn over. "I won't let anyone see you."

I wanted to demorph, or rather, morph. I wanted to be my human self. I wanted to wrap my arms around my mother tightly and hold on so she'd never go away again. I wanted to tell her everything that had happened and make her explain the rest of it. I wanted to bury my face in her shoulder and cry, because she was my mother and she was here. I desperately wanted hands, so I could touch her face. I wanted a nose so I could smell her hair and never forget what she smelled like again. I was not a bird. I was a boy. I wanted my mother.

But I couldn't do any of those things. I couldn't change form, I couldn't let her see who I was. I couldn't even let on that I knew who she was. Because, as unlikely as it seemed, she could still be infested. This could all be a trap. An overly elaborate, completely coincidental trap, but there was always a chance. Maybe they figured that Ax was here and she was supposed to lure Elfangor's nephew. I had no idea, but I did know that it nearly killed me not to tell her exactly who I was. If I hadn't been a bird for so long, if showing emotion wasn't almost foreign to me by now, I would have broken down.

Instead, I just focused my laser sharp gaze on her face, committing every contour to memory. She waited expectantly, and I studied her with the intense longing of a man visited by his daughter for the last moments before an execution.

She waited, and I studied, but I had the feeling that I was forgetting something.

When I heard a tree fall over as an elephant trumpeted, I remembered what it was. (Oh shit, Rachel, wait!)

The tiny clearing was suddenly full of angry African Elephant as Rachel yelled. (Put him down!) Then her trunk wrapped around Loren's body and lifted her up, as easily as Loren was holding me. She opened her hands in her surprise, dropping me into the weeds with a cry.

I hit hard and shoved myself over with my good wing. (Rachel, wait! She's my mother!) Somehow, I managed to remember to direct the cry only to her.

That made her stop suddenly, her trunk limp as Loren fell from it to land with a surprised grunt on the ground. (She's your WHAT?) Rachel's voice was as confused and shocked as I felt. (Tobias, your mother is... I mean, isn't she...)

(She's right there.) I struggled to my talons weakly. (I don't know how, but it's HER, Rachel.)

Then my mother was on her feet, dusting herself off with an annoyed look as she pointed a finger at the massive animal that could have literally sat on her and squished her flatter than a manhole cover. "You Andalites are insane! You're insane! I'm trying to help you! I'm on your side! You think you can just walk up here as an elephant and toss me around for fun? Demorph so I can strangle you with your own tail, you arrogant jerk!"

Rachel lifted her large head to me approvingly. (Okay, I like her.)

I was too busy staring at my mother again in surprise to respond. Where had she come from? Where had she been all this time? How did she meet Elfangor? Was he really my dad? What the hell was going on? Finally, I managed to ask. (Where... where are the others?)

(With Karen.) Rachel replied, keeping her attention on Loren. (When you didn't come back, I came to check. I saw Chapman's car, and for a second, I thought he... I thought you...) Her voice broke slightly but she caught it. (Anyway, I morphed and I was about to go ahhhh... ask Chapman if he had you, but I heard something over here and saw her with you. I thought... your mother was... I mean, how?)

I replied a little slowly. (I don't know, Rachel. But there's more. A lot more. She said that Elfangor was her husband, and... I think that means he... Elfangor.. was my dad. My father was... he was Elfangor.)

If I'd thought Rachel couldn't be more surprised than when I told her who my mother was, I was wrong. She nearly fell over. (Your dad!? Your dad was... oh Tobias, I'm so... I'm... oh god. Your father was our...But that means you're... what are you?)

(Like I ever know what I am?) I muttered sarcastically.

Loren raised both hands, waving a little. "Hi. Still over here. You wanna include me in your conversation?)

I hesitated, looking to Rachel. She didn't seem to have any answers, so I took a breath and decided to take a chance. She couldn't really be a yeerk, not at this point. I was going to tell my mother exactly what was going on. No matter what happened after that, for this moment, my mother was here. Nothing could tear my attention away from her.

Which was, of course, when the five hundred pound gorilla knuckle walked in.

(Yo.) Marco said, lifting a hand to cover his brow as he looked to my mother. (Who's the babe?)

(Babe?) Rachel echoed, then looked to me pleadingly. (Oh let me tell him. Please let me tell him.)

(She's my mother.) I said, the note of surprise at those words still evident. (My mom. She's my mom. Mother, my mom, my... mother.) I kept repeating it, as thought doing so would make it any clearer.

Marco sat down abruptly. It looked funny, a gorilla just plopping down like that. He blinked, then rubbed a large hairy hand over his rear. (I've gotta stop doing that every time I see a mother. Dude, Tobias, no offense, but your mom is hot. And kind of familiar somehow.)

(No offense?) Rachel seemed to be echoing Marco a lot today. She looked at me. (You know, I still have this huge trunk. I can pitch him across the freeway for you. I would really, really like to do that.)

While they argued, I just kept staring in awe at my mother, who was apparently tired of being seemingly ignored. She walked between the three of us and held up her hands. "Okay, guys? Your'e obviously confused, which I guess is understandable what with one of the primitive rock pounders knowing who you are. But get over it. I can't believe I'm the one saying this on earth, but, take me to your leader."

(Oh yes.) Marco said quickly. (Let's take her to Jake. He has to see this for himself. We'll never be able to prove it otherwise.)

Finally it occurred to Rachel to ask him. (How did you find us, anyway?)

(We were on our way to Chapman's place when Ax found us. Jake should be back with the rest of them by now. They sent me to figure out what was taking you guys so long.)

Rachel leaned her head down to pick me up gently with her trunk, then started to back out of the clearing. (All right, well you watch her and Tobias and I will remorph and then we'll go meet the others. And Marco, try not to hit on her. You're supposed to be an Andalite, and Andalites don't hit on humans.)

No, they just marry them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(She's your what?!) Jake nearly exploded out of his crouch. He was a wolf, sitting outside Ax's scoop, which is sort of like a very natural house made out of a hole in the ground. It was the only safe place they'd been able to think of to take Karen. The three of us had escorted Loren across the forest to find it. Actually, Marco and Rachel had escorted her, saying little. I hadn't trusted myself not to spill everything to her, so I'd flown ahead to warn the others we were coming.

(My mom.) I confirmed. (She's my mom, Jake.) I perched on a low branch and looked at Jake and Melissa, the latter of whom was currently a doberman, both sitting on either side of Karen. The girl herself was napping against a tree. The trip, and all the excitement, seemed to have worn her out.

(But how is that possible?!) If Jake had possessed hands at that moment, they would have been flapping around in confusion. (Your mother, she's there and she knows about the yeerks? But we didn't tell... and they didn't. How?!)

(I don't know, Jake. I don't know. All I know is I thought she was dead and she's alive.)

Ax was nearby, dipping a hoof in the stream to drink. Andalites absorb food and water that way. (This is a good thing, is it not?)

(Yeah and, Ax-Man... there's something else.) I hesitated. (She... She said that Elfangor was her husband.)

Slipping on his front hooves, Ax nearly took a header into the stream in his rush to turn around. Water splashed up everywhere as he whirled, focusing all four eyes on me in a rare occurance while taking a few quick steps toward my tree. (She said what?!)

(Believe me, you're not as shocked as I am. She says he's her husband. I mean was her husband. Ax, I think he lived here for awhile. I think that's why he fought so hard to save us... why he was willing to break your laws to give us a chance. I.... I think he's my father.)

There, I'd told him what I thought I knew. I watched Ax carefully. Would he be ashamed that his brother had married outside of his species? Would he hate that he was now in a way related to me? Would it change what he thought of us humans? Would it change what he thought of his brother? Melissa and Jake seemed just as interested in his response to this as I was, remaining silent, at least as far as I knew.

Finally, after several long moments, Ax reached one delicate, seven-fingered hand up to me, slightly touching my feathers. (Tobias, my shorm. If what you say is true, then it has laid to rest my one fear of my brother's last actions. I feared that he would not have known for certain that the race he was giving this gift to was worthy of it, that he was blindly breaking our laws without knowing if you were deserving. Now I am sure that he did know. You were always my friend, and now you are my family. And that my brother would choose the woman who would be your mother as a lifemate, she must be a remarkable female. I must meet her.)

The bushes shook as someone crashed through them nearby, making us all look around that way. It was a good thing we were interrupted at that point, because I couldn't have spoken just then. I was so affected by his words that I couldn't find my voice. I'd expected him to be angry, or at least begrudging. Instead he'd accepted me, accepted what had happened and embraced it. Maybe Ax was more like Elfangor than he thought.

Through the shaking bushes came my mother, panting and coughing. She stopped when she saw Ax. "Oh thank god... one of you isn't hiding in morph. I..." She took a moment to catch her breath, holding up a hand "I... your friends.. they saw a truck. There was a truck with a..." She coughed a little, obviously having run for quite some distance through the trees. "... truck with a cage in the back. One of those little hork-bajir was in it, just a kid.)

Jake was on his feet then, moving over to her. (One of the free hork-bajir children? Where is the truck? What happened?) Just like that, he took charge without a second's pause, snapping to his leader mode as he questioned her.

My mother at once focused on him rather than Ax. Maybe it was his 'I know what I'm doing here' tone. Or maybe it's just that way that Jake has with grown-ups all the time, that he's responsible and they can trust him. "The... gorilla and the bird went to follow them. I don't think they were yeerks. The men in the truck kept talking about the monster or the demon." She seemed to notice the sleeping girl next to the dog then, quickly moving that way. "Is that Karen? What is she doing here? What--" She blanched. "Oh god, he was going after her, wasn't he? Chapman was going after Karen."

Ax answered for us. (Yes, we retrieved the child because the adult Chapman believes she is infested with a yeerk when she is not. But if he were ever to find that out, he would infest her immediately.) He hesitated slightly. (She knows many secrets we do not wish the yeerks to have.)

Loren nodded slowly, though she obviously didn't understand what one little girl could possibly know. It was all I could do not to morph into my human self right then and hold her, begging her not to leave again.

Melissa seemed to notice my yearning, that or she just had the common sense to realize what I had to be feeling. (Should Tobias tell her? I mean, she's his mom. She'd want to know. He deserves--)

Whatever she was about to say I deserved was cut off by a shadow blotting out the sun, making me instinctively jerk back in case some mob of crows was trying to pick a fight. Instead, Rachel shot down out of the sky, the massive wingspan of her bald eagle being what blocked the light. She came in hard, flared almost too late, and caught the branch almost directly next to me, sending the thing rocking with her momentum when she hit. (They've got--!) She paused. (Hey, that was a pretty hot laaaaaaahhh!) Her last words turned into a cry that joined my own as the branch decided it had had enough and snapped, sending us both to the ground in a heap of feathers.

We were tangled for a moment, until Loren moved over to pull us apart. I felt a slight rush of heat at the idea of my mother seperating us, until Rachel managed to get out what she was trying to say. (They took Marco! Those creeps with the cages hit him with this other truck and he stopped moving. They hauled him in.)

My mother frowned, and I realized Rachel had been using public thoughtspeak. "Who is Marco?"

Rachel went silent, and we all looked to each other until Jake stepped forward. He seemed to make a decision. (We need to save our friend. Will you stay here with the human girl?)

Loren didn't hesitate. She nodded. "I'll stay here with her. You can trust me."

Jake regarded her briefly before saying softly. (We are.) He turned to me then. (Tobias, I know this is hard, but you have to focus. We need you. Can you focus on this?)

I couldn't look at him, because it would mean looking away from my mother. (But Jake, my mom. She's--)

(I know man.) Jake sounded torn, like he hated himself for pushing me, for asking this. (But we have to save Marco. And the Hork-Bajir kid. Please.)

Finally, relunctantly, I looked away and sighed. (I'll help save them. But I'm telling her the truth, Jake. If she's still here when we get back, it proves she can be trusted. I'm telling her after this.) I met Jake's gaze, bird and wolf staring at one another, until he lowered his head in agreement.

Ax spoke up tersely. (There is another problem.)

We all looked at him, in that way that dared him to give more bad news. But Ax is always immune to those looks, and went on. (If my calculations are right, Marco has been in morph for approximately forty eight of your minutes. He cannot demorph while he is being observed without giving away his identity. And the odds of this information not getting back to the yeerks are extremely low.)

Melissa continued his thought for him. (So if we don't free him in just over an hour, Marco's either going to be trapped as a gorilla...)

Jake's voice was grim, as he finished their words, starting off into the trees at a run. (Or the yeerks find out who we are.)


	5. Chapter 5

I am soooo sooo sooo sorry for the incredibly, unbelievably long delay in this chapter, guys. I had so much going on in this past couple months that I just had almost no time to actually write, and when I did have time, I was too tired or had writers block and couldn't think. But hopefully this will start to make up for it. As always, thank you so much for reading. I'll try to get into more specific reader response messages next time, but for now, I'm bushed. I hope you enjoy this one and see you next time!

Chapter Five

The five of us moved fast through the woods. Rachel flew ahead, trying to remember exactly where she'd been when Marco was taken, while I led Melissa, Ax, and Jake along the quickest route to catch up. I kept having to circle between Rachel and the other three, keeping everyone in sight while playing guide. But I was tired. After everything that had happened already, I was losing strength fast. But there was no time to rest. Not with Marco's own clock ticking in all of our heads.

Finally, we reached the spot where the abduction occurred. It was obvious that something had happened here. There were tire tracks all over the place on and off of the dirt road, and when Melissa and Jake arrived, both found traces of blood in the weeds all along the side. I perched on a log and preened a little, straightening some damaged feathers. Rachel landed at the end of the same log while the others inspected the blood and then demorphed. She sounded impatient. "Look, we don't need CSI to figure this out. I was here, remember? Truck hit Marco. Marco fall down. Bad guys put Marco in truck. Truck go vroom."

(Yet if you had a low cut top, glasses, and a pencil pressed against your teeth, that would sound like totally legit lab talk.)

All of us stared at the source of the words. Melissa dipped her snout and managed to make a vicious doberman look embarrassed. (What? Marco isn't here. Someone had to say it.)

(What is this CSI?) Ax asked, while his stalk eyes continued to turn rapidly to take in the land in every direction. I guess he didn't like being out in the near open like this. The place was deserted enough, but still. We'd have to keep moving. We already had evidence of trucks pulling through with no warning. Then he tried to pronounce the abbreviation. "Cssseeye. Suh-ssseeeh-eeeee? Kuh-Suh-Ayeee Ayee Ayee.)

(Aye aye aye is right.) Jake put in, managing to confuse Ax even further. Now the poor guy thought that CSI was pronounced aye aye aye. He was just starting to get the hang of spelling too. (The truck was coming in this way, so they have to have taken him town this road. Let's go. Rachel, you going wolf?)

Rachel shook her head. "Whenever we get there, we might need firepower."

She started her bear morph, while Jake tried to protest. But she wasn't hearing it. I think she still felt guilty over Marco being captured right out from under her. A few minutes later, we were off, following the road, which curved on into the mountains. Ax ran with Jake and Melissa flanking him, while Rachel loped easily along at the rear. In all this time I'd learned that bears are a lot faster than some people give them credit for.

I flapped hard to gain altitude so that I could see ahead. We'd already lost one of us to being surprised by these creeps today. God, I was tired. So much had happened. Finding out my mother was alive. Seeing her. Finding out my father was Elfangor. Practically getting nailed by Chapman's car didn't help my exhaustion either. I squinted, mentally shaking my head rapidly to clear the cobwebs. Focus, Tobias. It was time to focus. Ahead was... what was that? I went higher and took a better view over the trees. What I saw made me fume.

(It's a petting zoo.) I reported. (One of those illegal ones the cops never do anything about. Cages. They've got all the animals in cages. They're not even big enough for one and they've got two, even three crammed in there! It's dirty and disgusting and... I want to see how those guys like sitting in each others crap for a few months. I'd like--)

(Tobias. Tobias!) Jake's shout snatched me out of my rant. (As much as I sympathize, dude, do you see Marco?)

Right. I focused once more. At least my anger had wiped away the exhaustion for the time being. (I... Yeah, he's in a cage too. He's in the southwest corner, next to the buffalo. And... aww man, Jake. I see the Hork-Bajir kid. They've got him right at the front, main attraction. There's all these people trying to pet him and he looks confused. We've gotta get him out of there, Jake.)

(We will.) Jake assured me and cut across the road, leading the others into the trees for cover. I saw him wince as Rachel's grizzly moved after them, knocking over a small sapling in her way. I took my birds eye view while the rest of them slunk down and creeped closer through the trees. Well, most of them slunk. Rachel sort of lumbered slow-like. Big, yes. Built for battle, of course. Ready to hand a boatload of nasty human creeps a serious smack down, for sure. Stealthy.... not so much. It was like trying to sneak up to a clandestine drug meet with a panzer. Luckily, all the other animals were making so much noise already that I figured it would be impossible for anyone to notice a little bit more.

High above, I counted the people I could see before coming back to land in one of the trees. (Looks like an eight man operation. Four out on the lot right now, one in his trailer sleeping, two in the main tent setting up some kind of stage, and the last guy's at the front taking money. I see the trucks they were using. They're next to the lot. There's three other cars out there, maybe twelve civilians wandering around.)

(Are they armed?) Jake asked.

(I don't think so. Wait, yes. The guy at the front gate has some kind of pistol and two of the crowd control boys are packing. I can't see anything on the rest.) A cloud of dust from the road coming from the other direction caught my attention. It wasn't the one that we'd been on. That one came in the back way. This one was a paved road, if only just. (Jake.) I said with a hint of nerves that I couldn't explain. (There are two vehicles coming this way.)

Jake took the new information and began to give out orders. (Right. Then we act fast. I don't know what those cars are, but at best they're more innocents to get in the way, and at worst...) In the end, he kept what was worst to himself and just went on. (Tobias, you get over to Marco and tell him to be ready. Ax, you go straight to Marco's cage, get the lock off, and then Tobias and Marco back off. We do not want people seeing too much of you. Move fast, and tell Marco to demorph as soon as you're clear. Melissa and I will get the hork bajir kid. That's where most of the people are. They can run from the big bad dogs. Ax, once you get the lock off of Marco's cage, loop around and come up behind the hork bajir. Open it and get him out while we keep everyone off you.)

Rachel asked, with a hint of irritation. (Where do I come into this plan?)

(You?) Jake sounded satisfied with himself as he answered. (You get to march up to that trailer with the sleeping guy and tip it over, then roar really loud and scare the hell out of everyone. Get them all focused on you instead of Ax. Scare them.)

I swear that Rachel got that bear's eyes to light up. (I like this plan.)

(You would.) Melissa countered with a weary, but accepting voice. She kept her nose to the ground and waited for Jake's order, panting a little. I didn't know where she'd gotten the doberman morph originally, but it was big, really big. It kind of confused me that someone as quiet and withdrawn as Melissa had been before we'd really started talking to her would take something as violent as a hippo for her first battle morph, and then on her own acquire a vicious guard dog. It just seemed a little strange. But I didn't have time to worry about it, because Jake sent Rachel to do her woeful best to 'sneak' around to the trailer. On that note, I had to get over to Marco and get him ready to run.

I took to the air once more. The vehicles I'd seen earlier were much closer now. I could make out a utility van and a black SUV. Maybe the SUV made sense, but why would a utility van be out here? The whole thing made me nervous, and I flew over to land on the top of Marco's cage. I wasn't sure what the bars were made up, but they were extra thick, built to resist even a gorilla's strength. One of the onlookers pointed to me, but the other two were completely absorbed in what Marco was doing. Which... I had to pause for a second. He was making incredibly elaborate hand gestures, including the occassional clap and groan when the words they were shouting out to guess what he was saying failed to meet his expectation. (Marco, what are you doing? You don't know sign language.)

(Yeah, but can you imagine the time and effort these guys are going to put into figuring out what the three stooges eye poke means to the average lowland gorilla?) Marco asked without looking to me as he began to pantomime a terrible case of the peepee dance while making what sounded like barking noises. His audience was fascinated.

(Uhhh, yeah, that's great.) I said slowly. (But we sort of need them to not be looking over here.)

(Where are they supposed to look?) Marco demanded. (I am the man. I make Ahnuld look like a little kid. I could bench all three of them on top of each other. I could bench their car and they know it. What could possibly get them to pay atten--" He was cut off by the sound of the trailer tipping over onto its side as Rachel's grizzly hauled itself onto its hind legs and let out a massive roar. (Oh.) Marco's voice was somehow quieter. (Right, never underestimate Rachel's ability to be bigger and louder than you are.)

The three people who had been watching Marco were already backing away, their wide, terrified gazes locked onto the bear less than fifty feet away. From the side, Ax came galloping across the packed dirt. Even as Rachel gave the trailer another kick, prompting a scream from inside, Ax slowed to a stop. With a single flash of his tail and sparks from the metal bars, the lock was gone. Then Ax took off again, headed for the other cage. Marco pushed the door open and climbed out, dusting himself off just behind the three of them.

Two of Marco's fans had come to their senses and started running already. Marco tapped the third on the shoulder. When he turned, Marco lifted one hand with his palm forward, parting his fingers between his middle and ring finger, extending his thumb to the side. (Live long and prosper.) He declared in a solem voice. After the man hit the ground in a dead faint, he looked to me. (Huh. I guess he's not a Spock fan.)

(Let's get out of here.) I was watching Melissa and Jake as they snapped and bit at the air in front of the very few people who weren't completely absorbed by the enormous grizzly bear making mince meat of their trailer while the man inside continued to scream and cry, begging for his life. In the background, I could see Ax working on cage that held the kid.

We were almost out of there. Fifteen more seconds and we were ghosts. Ten seconds, even. But we didn't even have five. Before Marco could move toward the trees, before Ax could get the Hork-Bajir kid out of the cage, the SUV came barrelling into the lot, followed by the utility van. My bad feeling from earlier returned, multiplied several times.

Both vehicles skidded to a stop and kicked up dirt. Both sliding doors opened on either side of the van and half a dozen Hork Bajir erupted from within. Instantly, Jake began to bark orders. (Retreat! Get the kid out of here. Rachel, do not engage. Do not start up with them. We're out of here! Marco, Tobias, go!) The Hork Bajir were already cutting them off, forcing Melissa and Jake to back up. They could take one of the big guys between the two of them. Maybe two if they got really lucky. Not six.

Melissa's head shook. She sounded scared. (We can't... we can't get out. There's too many... )

Ax was already moving to help them. Jake called him off. (No! Back off. Get the Hork Bajir kid out of here. They can't get him. You guys get out of here.) From the SUV, humans armed with dracon beams were piling out to reinforce the others.

(Oh yeah.) Rachel replied even as she came right over the wrecked trailer. (Run away and let you guys have all the fun. Cuz that's really gonna happen.) A second later she barrelled into the first Hork Bajir and swung a mighty paw, knocking a second silly. The few remaining regular humans, who I guess at first thought they were going to back one side or the other, took off at that. But I knew they probably wouldn't get far. The Yeerks would pick them up and infest them if they could. They didn't want stories like this getting out.

I looked at Marco, and he looked to me. A second later we were in the fray as well. Ax swung his tail and a human-controller lost three fingers and dropped his weapon. Jake and Melissa both lunged at the Hork Bajir directly in front of them, tearing him to the ground. Marco bodily lifted another and threw him into the line of armed humans, who scattered or dropped like bowling pins. Rachel was holding one down, forcing her incredible claws straight through its chest while taking another swipe to cleave the throat from the next.

Swooping down on one of the human-controllers who had managed to keep both his weapon and his wits, I came in fast and hard, racking across his arm, making him drop the gun. As I came out of my dive, I saw it. Him. He was on the other side of the SUV, already half changed. I called. (Jake! Jake, he's here, man!) I didn't have to say who I meant. They all knew. Visser 3. The only Andalite-Controller. He was here. Which meant we were in trouble.

(Make a path!) Jake ordered. (Get away from the Visser.)

But it was too late. Visser 3 was already joining the party. He had morphed into what looked like a pile of black tar that glooped and oozed its way around the vehicle. Before we had time to wonder what sort of horrors this morph possessed, the tar was abruptly set aflame. Blue fire covered the black surface, while two long burning tentacle arms shot out, barring the path the others had been forcing. (Leaving so soon?) The Visser crowed. (We just... how do the humans say it... got to the party.)

Jake turned. His eyes found me in the sky as I tried to find a way that I could help. (Tobias, get the Hork Bajir child away.) He sounded pained to tell me this, like he knew how I would react.

(Jake, no.) I tried to argue. (I can--)

(GET HIM OUT OF HERE! We can't fight this thing. We'll do our best but... get him out!) Jake bellowed, as a dracon beam sizzled across his flanks, shot by an eager human who was immediately smacked aside by an angry Visser bellowing that they were his.

I saw the Hork Bajir kid in the far corner, hiding behind the tent his eyes locked on the scene of his rescuers needing rescuing. Then I saw Rachel, her grizzly bear forced back by the intense heat. I don't think she could see me with her dim, almost blind bear vision, but I spoke to her anyway. (I'll be back, Rachel. I'll find something to help and be back. I won't abandon you.)

Her words were quiet, simple yet complex. (I never thought you would.)

Before we could have any more words, two of the controllers started to move on the kid, and I had to be faster. I swept around, came in low, and raked my talons across the back of one guy's neck, making him jerk and fall into the other one's path. As they crashed into the dirt, and before anyone else could react, I flew over the young Hork-Bajir. (Let's go! Run! Into the trees!) It nearly killed me, but I led the kid away from the battle. I knew it had to be done, but I still felt like a coward.

They fought and I ran. They bled and I took the Hork Bajir child far into the woods. They were captured and I played babysitter. I was sick. I wished I was human so I could throw up, punch myself, punch a tree, anything. The poor kid had no idea why the talking bird was so angry, but he did learn a few choice earth words. Great, he was going to repeat them to his parents and then they'd repeat them like the five year olds they are mentally, and I'd be singularly responsible for corrupting what was left of an entire species. Stellar way to cap off the day.

For awhile, I just led him with no clear idea of where we were going. I had to think. What would they do with my friends? Obviously, Jake and the others wouldn't demorph. And the Visser would insist on taking them alive. They were too valuable to kill. Thank god. He also knew there was at least one more of us out here, and he'd try to use them to lure me in. But how? I was racking my brain, but coming up with nothing.

Before I knew it, I had led the Hork Bajir youth into the same clearing that we'd left Loren and Karen. Somehow I'd homed in on it. Karen was still asleep, but my mother came to her feet upon seeing the alien kid come stumbling into the clearing, panting and scared. Instantly, she went to him. In a soothing voice, she patted his arm and hugged him, careful of his half formed blades. "Shhh, sweetie. It's going to be all right. We'll find your mommy and daddy, okay? I promise, everything's going to be fine. We'll protect you."

We'll protect you. In that moment, hearing those words from my own mother, all I wanted was to be the one she was talking to. I wanted to be the one that she was comforting. I wanted to be a kid.

When she looked to me, I guess she could tell there was something wrong. "What happened?" She asked, focused now as the kid clung to her.

What had happened? Everything had happened. Everything bad anyway. Everything bad that could possibly have happened had happened. I wanted to tell her. My heart ached to explain everything while my brain argued against it. We didn't know her yet. We couldn't prove she'd never be captured.

Sometimes you have to follow your brain over all emotion. Sometimes it's logical, careful thought that lets you survive. And other times, it's your feelings, your heart, that let you live. The hard part is knowing which to choose, and how to accept that choice.

I chose.... and began to morph.

My feathers shrank back into my skin even as my short, stubby and hard legs grew and expanded, growing hair as they did. My beak retracted as my vision dimmed a lot. Hair, long unruly strands of it covered my eyes, and I lifted a wing to push it aside so that I could watch her face, see her reaction.

Finally, I stood on legs that were shaking for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with exhaustion. I ran my hand back through my dirty blonde hair and looked my mother straight in the face. I saw her... and she saw me.

"I need help... Mom."


	6. Chapter 6

All right! Here we are again. Thanks to everyone for your comments and help in pushing me to keep writing. You're the absolute best when it comes to motivation. Well, that and the fact that I love the storyline of Animorphs, and just like giving my own take on it. Thanks for everything, and I'll try to ease up on these slowdowns between posting. But I won't ease up on the cliffhangers. That's just me, so I guess I do have a death wish. Just make it quick please, I can't take pain.

Anyway, here we go, guys. Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. My tentative plan is to have another update by the end of the week, so here's hoping that I'll see you all then! Enjoy!

Chapter Six

People talk about these things called frozen moments. It's a period of time after something dramatic where the whole world seems to stop. In that single eternal second, life beyond one solitary thought does not exist. Sometimes there isn't even a real thought. Sometimes there's nothing more than an emotion. Sadness, fear, anger, all of these can be your companion through these moments. But for me, in that frozen moment after I revealed myself to my mother, in those immortal seconds, I felt one thing far different. I felt hope.

In that time, Loren simply stared at me. Her mouth was open but no sound emerged. She just watched in wonder as I slowly held up a hand to give her the world's most awkward wave. "Ummm... surprise?" My voice was shaky, and cracked a little. I wasn't sure how much of that was from lack of use and how much was from the tension.

I don't know what went through my mother's mind in those moments. I'll probably never truly understand exactly what she thought, or what she felt, to see her lost son emerge from the form of a bird before her eyes. All I know is that I saw first disbelief, confusion, doubt, and then I saw joy. And in the second after the felicity appeared in her gaze, I was off the ground. My mother, though she was hardly that much taller than I had become, lifted me from the ground. I have flown by the power of my wings through clouds that stretched for miles. I have coasted over the ocean and felt the wind through my feathers and freedom in a way that so few will ever truly understand. But I could soar for the rest of my life, and never again feel the weightless flight of pure, unchained liberty and safety that I felt in those oh so brief seconds when my own mother lifted me only three inches.

Of course, that's how Tobias the human felt. Tobias the bird wanted to screech and flare his wings. Tobias the bird was terrified and angry about being held so tightly. Hawks don't really do hugs. It's the whole arm thing. As much as I wanted to relax in my mother's tight embrace, part of me was uncomfortable, and even upset by it. It was a disconcerting conflict. I had to remind myself to try to return her hug, but I knew it felt stiff and uncertain.

The sound that emerged from her was both cry of joy and sob. She held me for several seconds before letting me drop back to the earth, but her hands continued to grip me tight. Her expression was wondrous as she looked me up and down. "Tobias... Tobias." She repeated the name like she needed to in order to try to understand what was happening. "What are you doing here? How did you know..." She trailed off then as she seemed to realize exactly what had just happened. "Oh my god! You're a... you were a..." Her mouth opened and then shut as she took on a confused expression. "But the morphing shouldn't be genetic. I remember Elfangor... explained..." She sounded slightly doubtful. "Unless that's hazy too. But you're Tobias. You're my... my son."

I raised my hands to clutch her arms. "Mo--" My voice cracked. Who was I to call her mom? I didn't even know her. "Mom... It's okay! It's me. It's Tobias. I..." I hesitated. How could I explain this in as little time as possible? "Elfangor came back to earth. He gave us the morphing power, so we could fight. Me and my friends."

A flash of recognition came to her eyes. "You're the Andalite bandits. Oh my god, all of you are the Andalite bandits. You're human. You're... my..." She looked dazed.

I didn't have time to ask how she knew what we were. "Mom, I swear I'll explain things later, and ask you... a lot." But I couldn't resist. I had to know. "Elfangor. He's really...?"

Her head bowed in a nod. I thought a slight blush came to her cheeks, but couldn't be sure because she looked away for a moment. "Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul is your father. Al Fangor. He... he gave you the morphing power. Of course. He would. He's got to be so proud of you now." She turned back and squeezed my shoulders with an almost pleading look. "He's... he really did... die... didn't he?" Her voice sounded odd, like she was trying to keep it together and strong because that's what a mother is supposed to do, but couldn't quite manage it.

The sense of loss I felt, that I had felt even before I knew who Elfangor was to me, returned. But I knew it had to be nothing compared to what she was feeling. That loss of balance that came on the desperate edge of hope. I wanted to tell her he was with us. I wanted more than anything to have my father and mother reunited. But I couldn't. All I could do was slowly nod. "I'm sorry, m--" It was still hard to shape the word. "... mom. He saved us. But he was injured. They--I mean he... Visser 3..."

She held up a hand and nodded. Her eyes closed, and I could see the tears that formed in her eyes even as she clutched me tighter. The stark reality of it struck me. Elfangor was a hero to the Andalites, and to us. But to my mother, to Loren, he was a husband. She had married him, an alien who had to have been raised as different from her as anyone had ever been. Yet they had loved each other. She had loved him so much that she had a son with him.

Then the old jealousy and confusion came up. Somehow he had been forced to leave, to go home to the Andalite homeworld. But where had she been? Why did she give me up to an aunt and uncle who wanted nothing to do with me? Had she been hiding from the yeerks all this time? And if so, then why? Couldn't she have taken me with her?

I had a lot of questions, but they had to wait. "Mom." I said stiffly, feeling like crap for pushing this on her. "I need your help. Please. My friends are in danger."

She looked up, frowning in confusion momentarily. "Friends..." She sounded lost for a moment before coming back to herself. "Your friends. Wait, there was an Andalite." Her hand came up to touch my hair, a gesture she kept half repeating as though afraid I was going to vanish any second.

"Ax." I nodded. "He's Elfangor's little brother. I... guess he's your brother in law. I don't know how the Andalite in-law thing works."

At first I thought she was crying, but after a moment I realized it was laughter. Her shoulders were shaking. "Humans. The yeerks are completely losing their minds trying to find the 'elite Andalite guerrilla insertion team', and they're... you're not andalites. You're humans. You're my son. My son is fighting the yeerks." For a second, she didn't sound like she knew exactly how to react to that.

"We're fighting them together, me and my friends. But they're all in danger. They were captured by Visser 3. And Marco... he's the gorilla, he's only got twenty minutes left in morph. The others are stuck too. We have to find them. We have to help them. But I can't... I can't do it by myself. I need... I need you."

"Friend Tobias?" The voice came from the side, and both of us turned. The Hork-Bajir kid was there. I'd forgotten about him. He looked puzzled but happy, as the free Hork-Bajir often did. "Friend Tobias save Bek."

I nodded to him, distractedly. "I'm sorry, uhhh, Bek. We'll take you home. I've just got to save my friends, and then we'll take you back to the valley. Just... just stay here with Karen." I knew I was brushing him off, and how crazy it was to tell the hork bajir child to stay with the human child in the middle of the forest. As Marco would have said, it was completely insane. But I was almost frantic.

Which was when Karen herself woke up. The little girl pushed herself up uncertainly, blinking around before her gaze settled on Bek. "Ahh!" She quickly darted behind the tree that she had been resting against. "Monster!"

Bek himself jumped just as much as Karen had. "Bek no see monster!" He threw himself behind the first bit of cover he could find. Unfortunately, this happened to be the exact same tree that Karen had used, resulting in the girl letting out a screech that had to hurt his ears as she backpedaled on her hands and knees. Bek didn't help matters by scrambling to follow her, thinking the monster was behind him.

"Guys! Guys, stop it!" I yelled, irritated. We didn't have time for this.

"Tobias." Loren said simply and took a step that way, dropping down to her knees to put a hand on each of their shoulders, careful of the Hork-Bajir kid's still forming blades. "Karen, this is Bek. He's not a monster. He's a kid, like you."

Karen raised her hand to point. "He's a... he's a..." She struggled with the word. "a... hurkbasheer."

"Sure." Loren nodded slowly. "But he's not a monster. They're not monsters, any more than you were a monster when you had a yeerk inside you. You know how you told me how it felt? Just a few minutes ago before you fell asleep again. You were lonely and scared. So is he, and he wants his family." This made Karen's lip quiver a little, and my mother quickly reassured her. "We'll find your parents too, Karen. You've been strong all this time, and very brave. But you have to be brave a little longer, okay? My... Tobias and I need to save his friends, and then we'll be back. You and Bek stay here and be very quiet. Hide."

As Karen nodded, still uncertainly, Bek tentatively put his hand out to her. "Bek help hide. Hork Bajir Hide good." The girl hesitated and then slowly touched her own little hand to his. She still looked nervous, but at least she wasn't outright terrified.

I turned back to my mother. "We have to help them. I don't know how. But they're still at that stupid circus place. Unless the ship already picked them up. We have to hurry."

This time she didn't hesitate. "You're right. If that creep gets your friends up to his ship, he'll infest them as soon as he can. He'll give them to his lieutenants and then..." She didn't have to finish the thought. "But I can't even get there in twenty minutes, let alone with time to do anything." She paused. "But let's go."

I was already demorphing back to hawk. "You can ride on me. We can come up with something on the way." Somehow, it didn't seem at all strange to me to think that my mother and I were going to be able to do something about all this. It was odd, considering I didn't know the woman at all. I knew more about Elfangor than I knew about Loren. Maybe it was the way she had stood up to Rachel in her elephant morph. Or maybe it was some deeply ingrained familial trust. Whatever, I didn't have time to reflect.

"Umm. Tobias." She gestured. "I can't ride a hawk. I mean that would be cool, but I don't think you've thought the physics through here."

Oh boy. How did I tell her about my situation. "I..." I started before my voice disappeared as I became more hawk than human. (I'll explain later, but I have to be a hawk to turn into anything else.) I knew I was avoiding the issue, but I didn't care. I just had to save the others. The second I was fully demorphed, I immediately started another morph. We had all acquired horses during an earlier mission, and it was that dna I reached for now.

The changes started with my wings. My shoulders arced up and over, grinding noisily as they extended straight out in front of me. While they grew longer, they seemed to fold in on themselves. Suddenly my talons shot out like weeds and I was tottering on a pair of bird legs three feet long. I was Big Bird....-Horse-Andalite-Boy! My life was less strange when we were sucked into Zero Space through a cosmic morphing oops and picked up by an Andalite Ship to save a planet of telepathic frogs.

My feathers seemed to dissolve while my beak grew longer and softer. Then my shoulders twisted once again and it became impossible to stand on two legs. I toppled forward, catching myself on my wings/front legs. So for a moment, I looked like a bird with no wings, a deformed beak, and skinny horse legs. Splurtt! Oh, and a horse tail. How nice.

Finally, my main body began to grow and I felt more of the horse appear. Within moments, I was a proud racehorse. I was antsy, skittering back and forth. More than anything, this horse wanted to run That was good, because I was going to have to haul my butt at warp speed if I wanted to get back in time to do anything before Marco was trapped forever. (Get on!) I yelled to my mother.

She grasped my shoulder and hauled herself over my back like she'd done it a hundred times. Looking back to the two kids, she raised a finger to her lips. "Shhh. Remember, hide." I figured that they'd be okay as long as they stayed here. We were right near Ax's scoop, and no one ever came out this way. I waited for them to nod and then leapt forward. Soon, I was racing through the trees with my mother holding tight around my neck while her legs gripped my sides.

It had taken Jake and the rest of us a long time to get to the petting zoo, but I was cutting that time in half by making as straight a line there as possible. At least I hoped I was. I had to slow down a few times or risk a broken leg from the uneven terrain, but for the most part, I ran through the trees like the speeder bike chase in that Star Wars movie. While I ran, we talked. Not about each other or what we had been doing all this time, or about how we felt, but about how we were going to save the others. Tentatively, we came up with a 'plan'. I use this in the loosest sense of the word, because if she heard it, even Rachel would have wanted to talk it out longer. But we didn't have any longer. We only had right now.

Somehow, we made it back to the petting zoo in one piece despite my hellbent crazy running. By some kind of miracle, the others actually were still there. All five of them had somehow been herded into the largest cage and seperated to various corners so that the yeerks could watch each one of them to make sure no one morphed to escape. There were four hork bajir guards posted at the cage, and more scattered around. Meanwhile, Visser 3 was standing before the cage, angrily demanding for what had to be the hundredth time for them to demorph. Apparently he wanted to do the infestation right here, instead of giving anyone a chance to get lost on the ship, or for anything else to go wrong. There was even what looked like a miniature yeerk pool sitting in the back of the open van, just waiting.

At least the first part of our plan would be simple enough. Once Loren got off my back, I made the transition to Hork-Bajir. Then I promptly fell flat on my back and tried not to die. The running, the quick morphing, the emotional roller coaster. I just wanted to curl up and never move again.

Feeling my mother's touch on my shoulder, I lifted my head slightly. She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. We both knew the facts, and by now she knew how exhausted I was. But the others needed me. It was that simple. Somehow, I managed to push myself up once more and looked to the woman who should have raised me. She returned my look with a kind, compassionate and knowing gaze and nodded. She was ready.

I started to turn, but she grabbed my arm, squeezing firmly. "Tobias, I want to talk to you after this. About everything. After we save your friends, we have to talk." She hesitated before adding with a firm, yet begging look. "Be careful. Please. Please be careful."

(I... I will.) I felt confused. What should I say right now? Awkwardly, I added. (You... be careful... too.)

That's all the time we had before we had to move. Marco would be down to a couple minutes, if that. I could see the gorilla pacing around anxiously. I knew that Marco had to be going nuts in there. I gave my mother one last look and then crept out.

This part of the plan was simple. All I had to do was join the other Hork-Bajir and mill around near the cage looking intimidating. Then, while everyone was distracted, I would set my friends free and they could all run into the woods and demorph. Distracted by what, you might ask?

"Hey, creepazoid!" Loren was suddenly standing near the edge of the trees, waving a hand over her head. "Remember me?" Remember her? I had no idea what that was about, but as all the Hork-Bajir's attentions shot to the woman on the other side of the grounds, I had to move, not think.

I made a beeline straight for the cage, arriving in time to hear Marco saying to the two remaining guards. (Come on. Whichever one of you lets us out gets a big sloppy kiss from King Kong.) The two of them were too distracted to even notice me as I stepped right up behind them and drove each wrist blade into their backs. Marco blinked as they both fell. (So... Tobias? Or do I have to buy lip gloss?)

(Shut up, Marco.) That was Rachel, of course, as she heaved herself up.

She said something else, but I wasn't paying attention. I was focused on the sight at the other end of the lot. The human controllers had immediately drawn their dracon beams, but Visser 3 screamed for them to put them down as he rushed forward. He seemed shocked. (The human...) His voice was full of contempt. (Finally.) Then he sprang forward and his tail whipped around, slashing with blinding speed. This one he didn't want for a host. This one, he just wanted to kill. And his tailblade was going to take my mother's head off with the ease of flicking butter from a dish.

I think I might have screamed, but none of the guards noticed. We were riveted on what I felt were going to be the last seconds of seeing my mother alive.

But the tragedy I expected didn't happen. Instead, Visser 3's tail hit the edge of a heavy stick that Loren had yanked from behind her back at the very second that the Visser leapt at her. She didn't hit his blade, as it would have gone through the stick like paper. Instead, she had blocked his tail just under the blade itself. Then, while Visser 3 stared dumbly for a half second of slowed reaction, she cracked him upside the head with a vicious two-handed backswing that broke the stick and knocked him reeling while yelling. "I bet you remember me now, huh!?"

(Tobias!) Marco screamed at me. I got the feeling he and the others had been shouting for my attention a couple of times. (Dude, kind of in a rush here!) He was already starting to demorph, since seconds counted right now. I jolted and spun back, slashing out with my blade to cut the lock. It sparked and fell, and he immediately shoved the door open and threw himself in a few bounds straight into the trees even as he shrunk rapidly.

I prayed that we had been fast enough and turned back as Jake shouted orders. (Everyone scatter. Get... get the woman and get the hell out of here. We don't need a fight. We can't take a fight. Move!)

He didn't need to repeat himself, because I was already moving. I started across the grounds, bounding toward the Visser. He had already recovered from the blow to the head that broke the stick, Loren's only defense. Though he looked a little crosseyed, he also looked pissed, and with a terrible yell, struck again. This time, my mother had no defense, nothing to protect herself with. She stood with her back to the tree as the tail blade shot out at her, and I frantically threw myself forward. Too far! There was no way I could stop him. There was no way he could miss.

And yet, again, his blade was blocked. Not by me. I was still too far away. The Visser's tail was stopped by another Andalite's. Ax! He caught Visser 3's blade on his own and shoved it away from Loren's face, breathing hard from his leap to get into place. His shoulders shook, but he glared defiantly at the older, larger Andalite, putting himself between my mother, his brother's wife, and the Abomination.

(Leave the human alone.) He said to Visser 3. (And fight me... tail to tail.)


	7. Chapter 7

Hey you guys. Thank you so much for putting up with my absence. You know I love every single one of your comments. I hope you forgive me and that it's not too confusing, because I'm writing it with a cold that's been keeping me so congested that sometimes I get dizzy. I'll take another look at it later and make sure there's nothing dramatically incomprehensible in it, but right now I figured you'd waited long enough.

As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter. It's a blast writing the story, and the fact that so many of you like the updates makes it worth writing. Thanks so much and have fun!

Chapter 7

I'm not sure who was more surprised by Ax's challenge, the rest of us or Visser 3. I saw the yeerk leader mull it over briefly in his head, obviously trying to see what Ax's play was. And, just as obviously, looking for his immediate advantage. Ax stood firm, his body between Loren and the evil creature that had tried to kill her.

Slowly, the Visser lower his tail into some kind of warrior salute (Very well, Andalite. And after I kill you, the human female will die.)

Ax started to lower his own tail into the salute automatically. Instantly, Visser 3's tail blade flicked up with shocking speed under the lowered guard, going for his smaller opponents throat. I started to scream a warning, but Ax managed to stumble back at the last second, springing up on his back legs to kick the Visser in the chest when he tried to charge over him to get to Loren.

Then they were on each other. I have seen sword fights in movies, but I had never seen anything like a tail blade fight. They were like a couple of scorpions, lashing out at each other with quick, rapid strikes. I saw the Visser's tail come down at Ax's exposed left side, but the Ax-Man shuffle stepped to the side, forcing the blade to whiff as his own tail shot out, coming up from his lower stance. Visser 3 curved his tail around in his slash, bringing it back in time to intercept, but Ax was still able to smack the larger andalite in the chest with the length of his tail even as their two blades grappled and clashed.

The Visser had the advantage, in size and experience. Besides that, Visser 3 was also able to maneuver better, since Ax had to keep himself between Loren and his opponent. The Yeerk kept attacking and all Ax could do was react each time, continually being pressed back.

(Tobias.) I heard Ax's voice come through tersely as he was driven back by a slash that drew blood along his chest and made him hiss in pain. (Now would be a good time to remove your mother from the battle, if you... uggggnnnn would.) He was slowing, which wasn't a good sign. That last strike had hit deeper than I thought. (Take her!) He shouted. Ax never shouts.

That brought me out of my frozen state and I started for Loren once more. I had to get her out of there. But even as I began to move, I was jerked to a halt. One of the Hork-Bajir guards had stopped me, catching my arm and swinging his wrist blade for my throat. I brought my own wrist blade up to block him. I was staggered backwards by the blow, and he still had a tight hold on my other arm. Two more Hork-Bajir were joining him.

One quick slash and my arm was free while the Hork-Bajir who had grabbed me was missing his. But his two pals had joined him, and now it was three on one. I was panting and looking desperately for a way around the three of them, when they charged.

Or at least, they started to charge. Then they fell down. Well, they didn't so much fall as get knocked head over heels by a thousand pound grizzly barrelling into them from the side. (Lay off!) Rachel shouted at them as the grizzly roared. (Go, Tobias.) She took a vicious swipe at one of the Hork-Bajir as he started to move, and he wouldn't be moving again. But the other two were already scrambling up. I hesitated, not wanting to leave Rachel fighting two to one by herself, but she shouted. (Go save your mother so we can get the hell out of here!)

I ran, leaping over the wolf that was Jake, who was tugging the gun from the hands of one of the human-controllers while Melissa tripped the guard that was trying to take aim at him. I saw Ax and the Visser as their tail blades glinted in the sunlight, lashing out at one another. Ax caught Visser 3's blade on the flat of his own and then twisted and flicked it aside the way a swordsman would to disarm an opponent. As the Visser's tail was knocked aside briefly, Ax curled the length of his tail slightly and used it to club his enemy upside the head, the way a human would elbow someone rather than punch them. Blood dripped from both of them. I wanted to say that the Visser was hurt worse, but I couldn't tell.

I reached my mother then, and saw her recoil in surprise at my sudden arrival. She had been engrossed in the fight. (It's me.) I said quickly. (We've gotta go.) I reached out and carefully scooped her into my arms. She was light enough that I could easily carry her. I gave her a second to sort herself and avoid getting cut on my blades, then started to run once more.

The Visser yelled in anger and leapt past Ax in a desperate gambit to reach us. I looked back and saw his tail blade whip out. It cut a deep gash through my side, and I staggered against the nearest tree, nearly dropping my mother. She screamed briefly and clung tighter around my shoulders, telling me I could make it, to drop her and go.

Then Ax was there. His own tail blade was drawn high before being driven hard, directly into the Visser's back. The yeerk screamed as his front legs buckled, taking him down. But as he fell, his blade lashed out, burying itself into Ax's chest, making his eyes glaze as he began to pitch forward.

I started to cry out and turn, but before I could, and before Ax could fall, a large hairy arm grabbed him around the side. Marco hauled Ax up as best he could and half carried, half dragged him while shouting. (Don't stop! Go, keep going! All Andalites aboard the Big Jim Express!) He must have remorphed. At least, I hoped that was what happened. Marco has enough maturity problems without literally being a big hairy ape.

We fled into the woods. Melissa and Jake, being the least wounded or occupied of us stayed back and deterred the yeerks from following. Most of them seemed occupied in helping the Visser though. Rachel, who was still a big matted mess of blood and fur from throwing herself into the thick of the guards, was talking Ax through his own morphing so he could heal the damage that had been done. Slowly, but surely, he was changing into his human form. I think he was delirious, because he kept calling her someone named Telkea.

Gradually, we slowed. I put my mother down to let her walk, and Marco did the same with Ax. I abandoned the Hork-Bajir body to resume my hawk shape so that I could scout ahead. From what I could tell, the walk passed mostly silently. Everyone seemed to want to wait until we felt safely away from that battle before anyone said much.

Jake finally spoke. He and I had held a brief conversation moments earlier, most of which involved him calling me crazy and telling me what Marco was going to say. (So you know.) He addressed everyone, but we all knew who he was talking to.

Loren seemed confused at first about who to look at, until she saw the wolf with its head turned back to her as it trotted. She hesitated before nodding with a brief glance up in the air to where I was gliding, trying to keep an eye on them while not moving too far ahead. "Yes... my... son. He showed... me. He told me."

(He what?!) Marco half erupted, turning his gorilla face to glare up in my direction. (Are you crazy? I mean, without even talking to us? You could have--)

(You were a little bit captured.) I shot back. (I needed her help.)

(And you couldn't just ask her as the mysterious birdie andalite? You had to give yourself away? What part of 'Excuse me, Miss, my friends are in terrible danger, would you mind lending me a bit of assistance' requires human lips?!)

He was just getting warmed up when Rachel cut him off. (Shut up, Marco. Like you wouldn't have done the same thing.)

Marco just replied flatly. (I wouldn't. I didn't.) That made me wince, knowing that his own mother was Visser One, and he had resisted giving us away in every encounter we'd had with her.

(It's not the same.) I tried to explain. (We know your mother is a yeerk. An important yeerk.)

(And you know yours isn't?) He shot back with a glance toward the woman in question. We were, thus far, keeping the angry conversation away from her. But her gaze moving back and forth seemed to show that she knew we were talking about her.

Melissa spoke up finally from where she trotted alongside Ax, who I guessed was staying quiet to avoid giving away what we were talking about, since he was limited to human speech at the moment. (I think ummm... I think Visser Three's reaction pretty much proves she isn't one of them.)

(Sure.) Marco waved his big meaty hand. (Or it could be a trap. Get all of us into one place, learn all of our secrets, grab us all at once.)

(I don't think so, Marco.) Jake sounded uneasy, but like he had put a lot of thought into it. (Visser 3 isn't that good of an actor. He was totally out of control, trying to get at her. I think it's safe to say that she's not a yeerk... right now. But--) He cut off Marco's protest. (-That doesn't mean that telling her was smart. Now we have to make sure she's never turned.)

"You know..." Loren began to say, almost conversationally. "I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but I can guess. And it might help if you let me talk for myself."

Everyone fell silent, except Ax, who was bobbing his human head the way he'd seen us do so many times. "That sounds acceptible to me, Prince Jake. Ible Ax Sept Uble Ububble Axseptibubble. Those sounds are pleasing. Bubble. bllluh bubbubble."

Marco sounded like he couldn't resist, despite his annoyance. (I guess the defense rests on 'bubble'.)

We laughed in spite of all the tense air, and Jake came a halt. (Time to demorph.) He shot a look toward Marco. (All of us. We're in for an inch, in for a mile.) He began to suit action to word, resuming his human shape. All the others slowly began to follow suit, some with obviously more relunctance. I started to morph because for this talk, I wanted to be human. I wanted to look at my mother with my human eyes.

For her part, she just stood there and watched in rapt fascination. I guess because she'd seen Elfangor morph but hadn't really seen many humans come out of animals. She didn't seem disgusted, which was a bonus because believe me, morphing can be really disgusting the first few... oh, billion times you see it.

Once everyone was human, she shook her head in amazement. "My god, you really are all kids. All of you. You're the Andalite Bandits that keep stopping the Yeerk invasion. This is... incredible. How long have you been doing this?"

Jake's slight smile was weary. "A really, really long time."

Marco, Rachel, Ax, and I all agreed variously while Melissa responded with a quiet. "Three weeks and four days." That made Loren look to her with a surprised expression, and Melissa blushed, waving her away. "I'm ummm... new." She left it at that.

"I think you should answer some questions now." Jake said, but he and the others looked to me to go on.

I took as deep a breath as I could manage and then let it out. "How are you here? How are you alive? Where have you been? How much do you know about the yeerks? Why is Chapman after you?"

She held up a hand to forestall more questions. "Okay, okay. That's a lot. All right, let me explain. When I was about your age, Chapman and I were both abducted by aliens called the Skrit Na...." And then she explained everything that had happened to her during the time that she was with Elfangor, finally finishing with. "I don't know how long we were together here before he disappeared. I think I was pregnant with you, Tobias, but it's all muddled still."

I wanted to ask how she had gotten her memory back in the first place. I wanted to ask how much she knew about what had happened after that, but Melissa interrupted. "My... my dad. My father tried to sell out the Earth to save himself?" She looked stricken.

It was Loren's turn to look first surprised, then mortified. "You... You're his daughter. You're Melissa." At the girl's nod, she winced. "Honey, your dad.... your father was... changed by what happened but not nearly as much as he was changed by you. When he had you, he had something to lose, something more important than himself. You made him better. He's different. I've seen him outside of the yeerk's control. He's a good man now, and nothing he said then could have changed things or pushed them away from Earth. They knew about both of us. They didn't need him to tell them what we were. The damage was done. He's not responsible for what's happening."

"Yes, he is." Melissa's tone was a bit darker than what I was used to hearing from her. "Maybe they would have found it without his help. But he let them know what to look for. He pointed them in the right direction. He opened the door for them." She folded her arms and looked away. "And he did it to save himself." I guess hearing that your father sold out the entire human race and could have pushed the Yeerk invasion ahead about a decade or so would be enough to make even the best natured person a bit miffed.

No one knew quite what to say for a few moments after that. We all just looked around at each other. Finally, Jake broke the silence by starting to walk once again. "More answers later." He said with a look to my mother. "We need to get back to Bek and Karen."

That jolted the rest of us into moving, knowing that those two were left alone in the middle of the woods. We hurried the rest of the way to where I remembered the spot being. It was easy enough to find by now.

What ended up being harder to find were the mismatched kids themselves. We entered the clearing and called out for them, but there was no response.

Rachel shook her head, scowling. "Why would they wander off? You told them to stay here."

"They're kids." Jake responded. "Maybe something caught their attention. Or maybe they decided to hide somewhere else..." He trailed off, not wanting to voice the third option, that leaving hadn't been their idea.

"Friend Tobias?" The hopeful, quiet voice came from overhead. All of us jerked our gaze up to see Bek slowly descending from the top of the tree. The poor guy looked scared out of his mind.

"Bek!" I cried out and peered past him. "Bek, you're okay. Where's Karen? Where's the human girl?"

Now the little guy looked ashamed. "Bad man come. Bad man take Karen say come now and take her. Bek try to hide her with Bek in the tree but she no climb and bad man take. Bek try saying no no but Bek no talk when Bek afraid."

Jake winced and obviously tried to control himself, laying his hands on either side of the young hork-bajir. "Bek. Where did the bad man take Karen? Where did they go?" As soon as Bek pointed, we were running. There wasn't time to morph. Loren pulled Bek along by the hand, trying to reassure him that things were okay and it wasn't his fault.

We crashed out of the trees in time to hear the shriek of a young girl. Fifty yards away from us, we could see Chapman forcing Karen into the back of what looked like one of those trucks the banks use to transport money. Another man was helping him. Once the doors were closed, both of them moved around to the front.

Rachel started to run at the truck, but Jake caught her arm. "Morph. We have to stop that truck."

"Morph what?" Marco voiced the question all of us had. "That's an armored truck, Jake. Unless one of us somehow acquired a panzer, I don't think we can stop it."

"We don't have to." All of us looked to see Loren speaking. "He's taking her to the nearest Yeerk Pool entrance. I know where it is. I know how to get there first. We can catch them before they get into the pool."

Marco scowled. "That means letting them get out of sight. He could take her anywhere."

My mother shook her head. "I know where he's taking her. I know him. I know how he thinks. Both Chapman and the yeerk in his head."

Slowly, I looked at Jake. I wanted to say go with her, but it wasn't my call. He was the leader. He had to decide what to do.

Loren pressed him, looking anxious. "Look, you can either morph whatever you can and try to catch up with and stop that truck, or you can trust and follow me. It's your choice, but you have to make it. You have to decide now."

Jake looked after the truck, which was already pulling onto the highway ahead of us. He looked torn, and I knew he wished the decision didn't fall to him. A tense, eternal two seconds passed before he turned back to Loren.

"Show us."


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys, I know this story has moved slowly lately, but I'm gonna do something a little bit different here. I'm going to try to get these last 3 chapters out quickly, within this week. This one doesn't have a lot of action in it, because it's mostly all Loren's explanation of what happened. It's a lot of talking. I apologize for that, but I thought you deserved to get her whole story in one go. Next will be the confrontation with Chapman/the rest of Loren's history, and then the final chapter/epilogue.

Thanks for all your comments on my being sick. I feel a lot better now, but that wasn't the least bit fun. Let's see how I can do about the whole not getting sick for awhile thing.

Belle: I'm glad you're still reading! Sorry you were sick around the same time as I was. Maybe we should get our inflamed Tria gland checked. ;)

Niori & ahilty: Definitely has to be brutal to hear that sort of thing, yeah. All of the animorphs have to deal with this stuff. She's just not as used to it as they are so it stands out more.

Kwangmablade: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like the characterization of Loren, and hope you keep liking it after hearing her story in this chapter.

Allison: Evens stevens it is. But I'll pick up the next tab. Glad you like the story. Let's see how you like the next part. :)

I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and the explanation/history behind Loren. Here we go!

Chapter Eight

Minutes later, after telling Bek in no unequivocal terms to stay hidden and not to wander off, we were running across the field that bisected the highway and the forest. Everyone had remorphed. Most of us were using the horse forms, but Melissa didn't have one of those. Instead, she was riding on Rachel's back. Occasionally, I heard half muted groans. "Oww…. Owww… owww… Isn't Xena supposed to be the one riding bareb—owww, you did that on purpose."

Meanwhile, Loren rode on me again. I suppose it helped make up for all the times she wasn't there to ride me about school. Yes, I know it's a bad joke. Blame Marco for telling it within six seconds of our trip. If I had to suffer, so do you.

"The highway curves around." Loren was saying, yelling to be heard over the rush as the five horses galloped. "It has to go all the way around getting to the airport, and then it comes back through the outskirts past the place where the closest entrance is. He won't risk going off the main road in that thing."

(I'm glad you're so confident.) Marco muttered. I think he was still a little annoyed that no one laughed at his riding me joke. That and he's naturally suspicious. Beyond that, I think some guilty part of him felt bad that here I was with my mother and his was still infested by the evil slug that started this whole invasion. (Personally, I'm not so sure about our odds on beating him to the entrance. And if we do, what then? Did you forget about the yeerks that are probably going to be at the… what is it anyway?)

Loren hunched down, holding tightly to my neck as she replied. "It's a storage lot. The entrance itself is in one of the storage sheds. Don't worry, we'll make it. It takes thirty minutes in this traffic to make the complete loop on that highway. We'll make it in fifteen."

(And if he speeds?) Marco demanded.

"He won't speed." My mother assured him. "The last thing he wants is to get pulled over or even noticed by any cops. He doesn't want to give them any reason to look in the back of that truck."

Everyone was silent for a few moments, and then Jake spoke to me privately. (You have to ask her, buddy. We have to know what's going on, all of it.)

I knew what he was saying, but I still hesitated. Finally, I started, once I worked out how to ask. (I… ummm… Lor—errrr, Mo… umm… Mom. What… What we really need to know is, how do you know all this stuff? What happened to you, exactly? I mean, you said you forgot and then you remembered. But we sort of…)

There was no response at first. I could almost hear my mother thinking of how to explain. Slowly, she eased into it. "After I… lost my memory of who Elfangor was, for some reason I thought that I had gotten pregnant and that the guy had left me right after the baby was born. I didn't know what to do with a baby. Hell, I didn't know what to do with myself. Everything was out of focus. Nothing was quite right. It was like being on stage in a play and being the only person who knows that you're all acting."

"My sister was a few years older than I was. She and her husband wanted kids, but they couldn't have any. I tried to keep you for a couple years, but when every memory I had of how you came to be was either bad or felt just plain wrong, like everything else, I couldn't do it anymore. When she offered to take care of you… I…" She hesitated, sounding ashamed of herself. "I let you go. I couldn't handle it. I…" She corrected herself. "I wouldn't handle it. I sort of divorced myself from reality for awhile. I checked myself into one of those psychiatric clinics. I just couldn't figure out why the entire world felt wrong. I felt like we were all in danger, like anyone I knew could be an enemy."

Rachel said quietly. (Yeerks. You thought they could be yeerks.)

"Yes." Loren confirmed. "But I didn't know that at the time. I thought I was insane. Part of me was terrified that I'd lose my mind and think my baby was one of these 'enemies' and do something terrible. And another part of me was afraid that it would be the right thing to do and if I couldn't do it, I'd fail. So I sent you away to your aunt and uncle, and committed myself."

(We'd have to be nu--) Marco started an old joke.

(Don't. Even. Start.) Jake cut him off firmly.

Sounding distracted, as though she was reaching far back into her memory, or into dark corners, my mother continued. "I guess while I was in there, my sister divorced her husband. Legally, they still had to take care of you, because I was umm, indisposed. So Parker moved out to Florida and they started shuffling you back and forth. I think partly they saw you as one of the reasons their marriage didn't work out. I don't know why they didn't hand you off to a foster agent, except some sort of loyalty to promising me they'd take care of you."

Rachel's voice was disgusted. (Yeah, they did a bang-up job. If they cared about him any less, they'd come full circle all the way back around to adoration. You should have taken care of him. You should have been there for him. You should have--)

I interrupted. (Rachel, it's okay.)

"No it's not." Loren's arms held my neck tighter. "It's really, really not. I'm sorry, Tobias. There isn't any excuse. I should have taken care of you. I should have snapped out of it. If there was a threat, I should have protected my child." Her voice broke slightly. "I can't forgive myself for that. But I can try to make up for it, in little ways."

(What little ways? What did you do?) I couldn't keep all of the hurt out of my voice, even though I tried. If she had come out of it, why hadn't she come back to take me with her?

"Because…" Loren hesitated. I could feel the tension in her arms. But she wanted to finish her story before we had to stop. "Because it wasn't my choice. If I could have come back to find you as soon as I was out of the hospital, I would have. But I couldn't."

I felt a note of tension enter my own voice. (Why not?)

She put it out there like she was ripping off a band-aid quickly. "Because the yeerk wouldn't let me. I was infested."

That brought me to an almost comical skidding halt. (You were what?!) I shouted, unable to understand what she was saying. My mother wasn't infested. Hosts that were infested didn't get away and live to tell about it.

Now the others had stopped and were looking back toward us, or rather, to my mother, with as much foreboding and threat as four horses can manage. Which is to say, if I had been a bale of hay at the time, I might have wet myself. As it was, I just said carefully. (Explain that, please.)

"Was." Loren reiterated. "I was infested. They brought the Sharing into the hospital where all the…. Where all of us were. The other patients and me. They talked about the world outside and how we could be a part of something better if we wanted to. A lot of the patients in there were complete… weren't any use for a yeerk because the brain didn't work right. But some of us were fine, at least relatively speaking. They took advantage of the stress and need for companionship."

(Were you…) I could barely bring myself to ask. (Were you voluntary?)

"No." She stressed the word, and I believed her. "They brought us to some meetings. We had some evaluations. I guess they were testing us to see if we were suitable. Then, those of us who were, they brought to another meeting. They did the infestation there. It was…" Her voice broke slightly before going on. "It was horrible. These monsters… I thought they were monsters at the time, the Hork-Bajir. They appeared and held us. People were screaming for help while they were dragged to this swirling hot tub thing. They'd shove the person under water. At first I thought they were killing them. These creatures, they were the ones from my dreams. The ones that weren't real. They couldn't have been real, but they were here. Then the person would just stand up and walk away, all calm. It was torture, being held like that. I think it was even worse for me because it was my nightmare coming true. Everything about something in the world being wrong, everything I had spent years trying to suppress, was real. I thought I was having a complete psychotic break."

"I started screaming then. I think I startled them, because I started fighting even harder. It surprised all the yeerks there. I think part of me already knew exactly what was happening. I managed to get my legs up and kicked the yeerk ahead of me. He was a human and when he fell backwards, one of the Hork-Bajir that was holding me let go to help him. I guess he thought the other one could hold me. Any other situation, I think he could have. But I was screaming like a banshee and managed to twist that arm free. I wanted out of that room. I was going to get out of that room. I think they'd done this so many times that it was routine. They didn't expect anyone who knew, even subconsciously, what was about to happen to her."

"You escaped from the yeerks?" Melissa asked as she perched on Rachel's back. "But you said you were infested."

Loren nodded a little. "Yes. That's because I didn't escape. I got close. I think I got so close that it scared them away from doing it there anymore, so that's one good thing, I guess. But when I got to the door, it opened just then and a guy stepped right in the way. I tried to plow through him, but he caught me around the waist and slowed me long enough that the Hork-Bajir caught up. They dragged me to the pool. I was screaming. I was begging. I was kicking and clawing, but I couldn't do anything. I couldn't stop them. My head was under the pool and then… "She didn't have to finish. We all knew how the yeerk entered the host through the ear and wrapped itself around their brain, completely taking control.

"The guy who stopped you." Melissa seemed to have picked up on something in my mother's voice. "He was my dad, wasn't he?"

I could feel Loren shift on my back as she looked to the girl. "Yeah. It was. That's part of what slowed me down. I knew him from somewhere. I couldn't figure it out then, but it kept bugging me. The yeerk made fun of me for it. It called me crazy. It went all through every memory I had and proved that I couldn't know Hendrick."

(Wait, who?) That was Marco, sounding confused.

"Hendrick Chapman." Loren explained while Melissa nodded.

(Wait.) Marco said again. "Chapman's first name is Hendrick? Hendrick? Seriously?"

(What did you expect his first name to be, Marco?) I asked before I could stop myself.

(I'm not sure.) He admitted. (But the name Richard Wilkins comes to mind.) He hesitated slightly as Rachel snorted angrily. (Errr, sorry, Melissa.)

"I'm the daughter of the vice principal, Marco." Melissa responded in her quiet, yet in control way. "Do you really think having my father compared to the best villain Buffy had is the worst thing I've ever heard about him?" She paused, and then added. "Before all this, I mean."

Loren continued. "I was a controller for a long time. It felt like forever. Years went by."

(How did you escape them?) That was Ax. His tone indicated that he would judge for himself whether to believe it or not, depending on how she explained herself.

I didn't expect what she said next. Then again, if I had a nickel for every time someone had said something I didn't expect in the past day, I could have bought myself a new Ferrari. And then, being a bird, promptly pooped on the hood.

"I didn't escape. You rescued me. All of you." She sounded midway between confusion and amusement.

All of us blinked slowly, as one. I managed to get out. (We what?)

My mother chuckled slightly and reached up to pat the top of my head. "Well, not Melissa, I guess, if she's new. The first time the…" She coughed. "… andalite bandits showed up in the yeerk pool. You pulled a lot of people out of the cages. I was one of them. I was… the only one who made it, on one of your backs…"

That made us all stare. Our first real mission. The very first time we had gone into the yeerk pool, Cassie had managed to get one woman out on her back while she was a horse. The others had been distracted by the fireballs the Visser had been spitting at them. I had been too far away to get any kind of look at the woman that Cassie had rescued. Afterward, they told me she ran away from them. I had been stuck below, hiding in the corners of the yeerk pool caverns. It was there that I had been trapped as a hawk. It was there that my mother had been freed.

(What…) Jake was the first to find his voice. (What did you do then? You just… ran off. Cassie… Cassie said you ran away from her as soon as we got out.)

"I did." Loren nodded. "I was scared. I was terrified really. I just wanted to get away. I wanted to find my son and get him as far away from this invasion as I could. Right then, that's all I wanted. I had to know my son was safe."

"Then…." Melissa asked quietly. "… why… are you still around the yeerks?"

Loren took a breath and let it out, emphasizing her words. "I told you. I had to save my son. I went looking for him and no one knew where he was. No one cared. My son had vanished and it was like he didn't matter. You know what I thought."

(You thought I was infested. You thought I was a controller out somewhere, maybe on one of the ships.)

Her arms held me tighter. "Yes. I thought you were taken. I thought the yeerks took my son. So I went back in."

Marco sounded incredulous. (Excuse me, you what? This was before you remembered about the whole Elfangor thing?)

I could hear the slight smile in her voice. "I went back in. Not as myself. I followed the ones I remembered. The ones who looked slightly like me, my build. I found one woman and followed her until I knew her schedule. Then I dyed my hair, put it up in a bun and put on a suit. Then I just walked right into the yeerk pool. I was so afraid I thought my knees were going to knock themselves right off my legs and run away all by themselves."

(Why?) I couldn't help blurting out. (Why would you go back in there? Why would you risk being infested again when you were free? Why would you do something that… that dangerous?)

She answered, restating her previous answer as though it were the most natural and obvious thing in the world. "Because I thought my son was in there."

I couldn't speak. Nothing would come out. I wanted to hug my mother. It was impossible of course, but I wanted to demorph. All I could do was swallow and shudder a little, longing for the embrace that I thought I had taught myself to never wish for again.

Rachel spoke for me. There was one more question that needed to be answered. (How did you get your memory back?)

Loren trailed her hand down my side absently, rubbing it. "I kept at the yeerks. I got better at disguising myself as one of them, at pretending to be a controller. I watched them, looking for any information about my son that I could get my hands on. I couldn't find anything. But I wouldn't stop looking. I couldn't. Then, one day down in the pool, a man appeared." She paused, gathering herself to explain this much. "He… time… stopped. He stopped time. Everyone else was there but they were frozen."

(The Ellimist.) I said, starting to understand a little better.

"That's what he called himself." My mother confirmed before continuing. "He told me that if I did him a favor, he would give me what I wanted. I couldn't exactly doubt him just then. I asked him for my son back. He said that that was something that would happen on its own, in its time. So… I asked him to explain what these half memories, half thoughts, half dreams in my head were. I asked him to fix my memory. He said he would, if I caused a distraction at this one exact time, so that a couple of Hork-Bajir could escape."

That part really floored me. (Wait a minute. He had me lead them away. Once they got up into the forest, the Ellimist got me to guide them to safety. That's where the Free Hork-Bajir came from, where Bek is from."

Loren nodded. "I remember, the yeerks went completely batshit about it. They couldn't let anyone get away. Especially not from a species that had already been completely subjugated. There couldn't be any hope in the hork-bajir. They said that they killed the free ones, that they fell off a cliff and were eaten by wolves. But the Ellimist came to me. He told me that they were safe, and that I had done my part. Then, he gave me my memory back. He let me remember exactly what happened, and who your father was."

There was still a note of baffled surprise in my voice. (We worked together. We didn't even know it. You distracted them and I led the Hork-Bajir. He got us to work like a team, and we didn't even know.)

I could hear the smile return to my mother's voice. "Well then." She said while pointing ahead at the storage yard that was still a couple of football fields away. "Let's be a team again, huh?"

(Yeah.) I said with a note of pride that I couldn't help. (Let's do it.) I picked up speed, kicking up a bigger dirt cloud behind us.

(Aww man.) Rachel complained. (Now what am I supposed to say? I can't steal Marco's battlecry. I can't get my voice into that girly squeal.)

"You could say it together." My mother offered while Marco made a strangled sound that was half laugh, half indignation.

Rachel and I both turned our horse heads toward each other. I swear the Rachel-horse smiled. (Yeah. Together is good.)

We turned as one, back to the storage yard where we could see armed guards patrolling. In one motion, both of us kicked off our hind legs and sprinted the last bit of distance we had to go while the other three fell in behind us. Together, we shouted. (Let's do it!)

Behind us, Marco let loose with Xena's war cry. (There--) He informed Rachel. (--is your girly squeal.)


	9. Chapter 9

All right, guys! I ended up deciding to merge the last two chapters together rather than split them up. So this is the last chapter of Redux: The Pretender. I hope you all liked it as much as I liked writing it. I'm really tired right now after an all nighter of getting this done, but I'll be back soon with the next book. Please keep letting me know what you think and what you'd like to see.

Enjoy!

Chapter Nine

We descended toward the sprawling storage facility. The place was surrounded by a nine foot chain link fence covered in green boards. There were three armed guards wandering through the rows of storage sheds. I had no doubt that all were controllers if this was a yeerk pool entrance. No way the yeerks would leave non-infested humans this close.

When we were about 100 feet away, we found a clump of boulders and demorphed while Melissa and Loren kept a look out. Moments later, the seven of us sprawled over the boulders, watching the fence below. Well, five of us sprawled. I perched on the edge of the boulder, reporting details to the others. They could tell there were three guards. I could read the title of the magazine stuffed into one guard's back pocket. And Ax stood close by. Andalite bodies don't sprawl very well.

That made me wonder. Was I half Andalite? Or a third Andalite if you considered morphing? Was there anything of Andalite DNA within me? If I was a child born of a human and and Andalite-in-human-morph who was trapped as a hawk and regained the power to temporarily become human, then what was I? How many different lives was I living? The better question was, how many different lives was I not living? In spending so much time thinking about what I wasn't, how much was I losing of what I was? How much of my life was I missing?

I glanced sideways to Rachel. She had a determined look. Of course, that's pretty much like saying salt has a salty taste. Rachel is always determined. Sometimes I think nothing phases her. Jake is our leader, and we follow his orders, but Rachel is our warrior. We all fight, but she is a fighter. There is a difference. Without this war, I don't know what I would have become. I would like to think that I'd have found a place. Jake probably would have been a politician or something. Maybe he'd join the military. Marco would probably go to Hollywood. They find anything funny. I don't know enough about Melissa to say. But Rachel, I think, would have always found a cause to fight for. She was that kind of person. Not the kind that goes looking for trouble. She was the kind that saw trouble already happening and did something about it, even if it didn't involve her. Rachel was… - - was looking at me like I was deaf and waving her hand. I realized with a start that she'd been saying something and I had tuned completely out.

Flushing, I responded. (Sorry, sorry. What?)

She gave me a weird look for a moment. "I said, can you see anyone in the office?" She pointed toward the glass plated building near the front, where the gates opened to let cars in.

I turned my head and focused on the building. Now wasn't the time to lose focus thinking about… that. Especially not with my mother six feet away. (Yeah, there's one guy in there. He's watching tv and eating nachos.)

That got Ax's attention. His stalk eye turned toward me as he spoke hopefully. (Nachos? With yellow paste and delicious cardboard? He is not eating too quickly, I hope.)

Marco rolled his eyes. "Cheese, Ax. It's cheese. And didn't we tell you not to eat the cardboard anymore?"

(Yes.) Ax nodded solemnly. (I remember now. You humans have such peculiar ways of dictating what is to be ingested and what is to hold those things. It is a very hard list to keep track of. I hope you prepare your young early with sufficient memorization tests before abandoning them to the centers for food consumption and the gathering of artificial fur on what they may ingest and what is delicious but not meant to be eaten.)

Melissa spoke up from the other end of the boulder. "Yeah, everyone has to pass an 'Eat cheeseburger, hold wax paper' quiz before they get their mall license."

"Melissa…" Jake pleaded. "Please don't tell him things like that. We have enough trouble keeping him straight on human things." He looked to me. "Three guards roving and one inside the office. I bet Marco's allowance for a month that at least one of those sheds down there is full of hork-bajir, just in case."

"Hey, why is it my allowance that has to suffer?" Marco complained. "And no bet. There's definitely something like that. It's gotta be that one at the back gate that's set away from the others."

Loren pushed her way to her feet, brushing her knees off. "I'll take care of the guard in the office. That tv he's watching is probably connected to cameras around the lot."

(What? No.) I protested, turning a sharp gaze to her. (It's dangerous. If he makes you, or figures out what you're doing, you could be reinfested, or hurt, or… worse.)

"Tobias." My mother smiled and reached out, putting her hand on my folded wings. "I know what I'm doing." She crouched a little. "I want to tell you not to go down there. I want to hold you away from danger. But I can't. Because the danger is everywhere and the only way that I can do anything about it is by helping you now. You have the power to fight them. You've been fighting them. You've done damage to the yeerks. You've frustrated them. They're hurting here on earth because of you and your friends. As much as I want to protect you, if I stop you from doing what you've been doing, I'll doom all of us. I can't do what you can do, but I can do this. I trust you. Now trust me."

I was silent for a moment before looking to Jake. (We need to take those guards down fast and silently, so the reinforcements aren't alerted. What do we have that can take out three separate men that quick without making a lot of noise?)

Jake's brow furrowed slightly as he thought. "If your mom can distract the guy watching the monitor, Marco should be able to drop each guard separately, since they're all spread out." He looked at Marco. "But you'll have to be quick, because they probably report in regularly with those radios."

Marco shrugged. "With Birdboy scouting directions so I don't stumble into them, I could do that."

"Great." Jake nodded. "Get morphing. Ummm… Mrs… Miss… Loren? If you can start that distraction, we'll take care of our end." As my mother nodded and started off, he turned back to the rest of us. "Melissa, I need you to get airborne and let us know when that truck is close. Ax and I will try to find a way to seal those Hork-Bajir inside their boxes, just in case."

Ax responded carefully. (There is probably a security console to lock the unit down in case of a breach, and so that it may serve as a detention cell as well as allow the leader of the site to lock his men inside. The yeerks trust no one, particularly themselves. I believe I can over ride it and lock them in. The building they are in may appear to be primitive human construction, but if it is a yeerk security center, it will be much stronger.)

Melissa started to morph alongside Marco, while Rachel frowned. "And what am I supposed to do?"

Jake smiled. "I've got another plan for you…"

A minute later, I was gliding over the storage lot. All the metal on those roofs made some sweet thermals. Thermals are updrafts of air that birds use to fly on, sort of like surfing in the air. You can fly without them, but it involves a lot more hard flapping. (Okay, Marco. Your first guy is right inside the fence. You're almost right behind him. If the fence wasn't there, you'd be able to see him.)

Marco hunched over in the weeds near the base of the fence, a male gorilla that could have broken Mike Tyson in half without exerting himself. (Anyone nearby?)

I did a quick check. My mother was in the office, animatedly shouting at the poor, confused guard in there after practically dragging him out from behind his desk for a thorough screaming match. The other two guards were at the far end of the lot. (No one in easy hearing distance. Just be quick. One of them is starting to walk back. But you've got a few seconds.)

A gorilla weighs a lot. You wouldn't think it could get much of that into the air. But surprisingly, they are good jumpers. Most of them can leap three to four feet straight up. Marco leapt and grabbed the top of the fence, hauling himself over it with a rattle that startled the controller. If the guy thought the fence shaking had scared him, looking up reflexively to see an 800 pound gorilla landing on top of him probably gave the poor guy a heart attack.

A second later the guy lay crumpled on the other side of the fence after Marco dumped him back over it to be out of sight. (That was fun.) He started loping toward the rows of sheds. (Who's next?)

I circled back around, taking time to check on my mother. She was still keeping the office guard's attention on her. I didn't know what she was saying, but she looked pissed off. I turned my focus back to the situation under me. (You've got a guy about two rows left from you. He's coming your way. The other one is… he's heading to the office. I think the guy in there called him. My mom--)

(We've got him.) Jake interrupted. I saw the guy step around a corner on his way to the office when an Andalite tail appeared from inside the half open door to the shed he was passing. It smacked into the side of his head, and he went down hard.

(Okay, just the one guy then.) I tried to keep the relief out of my voice. (He's one row away from you now, two sheds up.) I watched as Marco cut between two of the storage units. When the guy passed, he stuck out a hairy arm and snagged him by the face. One quick yank and hard shove into the wall later and the last guard was down.

It was just in time too, because Melissa called down from where she was circling higher than me. (Truck! The truck is coming! My… my dad isn't driving; he's in the passenger seat. It's some other guy.) I turned the way she was flying and sure enough, the armored truck was making its way steadily along the road. It would be here in another minute or so.

I saw Jake and Ax step into view. Jake was in his tiger morph. Ax ran off down the rows of storage units toward the back where those reinforcements waited. Meanwhile, Jake was looking toward the sky. (We're not going to make you confront your dad, Melissa. Just keep circling and let us know before anything else can surprise us.) He was keeping Melissa out of the way. It was safer for everyone involved.

I watched Jake as he prowled to the edge of the cover that the last shed provided and waited. The truck would pull through the gate in a few seconds. Realizing a problem, I looked to the office and sent. (Mom, Chapman's nearly here. You've gotta get out of there.)

Jake added. (Lead him down the first row. I'll take care of it.)

My mother complied, stomping out of the office while she waved her arms in a fury. I caught a few snippets of her words as I flew closer. She was ranting about the new television and waterbed she'd stored at their facility that were now missing, and was going to show him where exactly her unit was. The human-controller was trying to explain to her that she wasn't listed in the system for what was probably the fifth time when a vicious, 600 pound, snarling, man-eating tiger with teeth that could rip into him like a teenager into a taco stepped into sight and told him to sit down. It was a testament to my mother's ability to intimidate that the guy looked somewhat relieved that he had the tiger to deal with now instead of her. Soon, the man was on his stomach, tied with rope that Loren found in the storage unit.

At the back of the lot, I saw Ax. He and Marco were standing next to the shed where we believed the Hork-Bajir guards were hidden. Ax's fingers danced over what looked like an oddly advanced computer pad attached to the wall. Then Ax flipped the computer shut and Marco gave me a thumbs up. The yeerks were trapped, for now.

We were as ready as we'd ever be, as the armored truck pulled through the open gates and stopped, idling in the lot. I could see Chapman's eyes moving over the storage units as he gestured to the driver. For a moment, I thought they weren't going to go for it. We were all tense, half expecting the truck to suddenly reverse out of the lot and make us come up with some other desperate plan.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. Eventually the truck shut off and both men stepped out. The driver started to walk toward the office while Chapman moved around to the back of the truck. (Steady.) Jake ordered. (Let the driver go until we see Karen, then Marco can take him. Ax, you and I will stop Chapman. Melissa and Tobias, you guys are back-up. Stay in the air. You ready, Rachel?)

(Yeah.) I couldn't see where Rachel had positioned herself. (He tries anything and I'm on him.)

By now, Chapman had pulled Karen out of the truck by the arm. The young girl struggled, but he didn't care. He was starting to pull her up into his arms to carry her. Meanwhile, the driver was almost to the office when Jake said tensely. (Now.)

Immediately, Marco loped off the roof of the nearest storage unit, leaping out to collide with the man. He caught the startled controller around the waist and bodily hurled him into the wall of the office. The guy wouldn't be getting up for awhile.

As he heard the crash, Chapman whirled with the struggling and kicking Karen tight against his chest to find Jake and Ax advancing on him. "Andalite!" His surprise was obvious. "Stay back! Or I break the human child's neck." His arm moved threateningly over Karen's neck, and I could hear her whimper.

(My dad…) It was Melissa. I realized she was talking privately to me, and heard the despair in her voice at seeing her father being this ruthless.

(It's not him, Melissa.) I tried to reassure her, wishing it was Rachel doing so. (It's the yeerk. Your dad's powerless in there.) Yeah, probably not the best way to make the girl feel better. Like I said, I wished Rachel was talking to her. She went silent then, and part of me was relieved. I didn't know what to say to her.

Jake growled low and stalked to the left while Ax started to circle right. (Let the human girl go, yeerk.) Jake's voice was hard and low with his demand. (We don't want to hurt her to get at you, but you are high placed in yeerk society. We could learn much from you. The death of one human might be worth it.)

There was a long, tense pause, and then Chapman called Jake's bluff. "No you won't. You Andalites think you're the saviors of the galaxy. No, you might drop a biological bomb on this planet and condemn the entire race, but you won't get your own hands dirty directly." His voice was mocking. "So why don't you back away before your sensitive Andalite morality is as broken as this child's neck?"

Jake and Ax both took a step back as Jake ordered. (All right, Rachel. Plan B.)

There was a flurry of wings and a rush of movement. Before Chapman could react, Rachel perched on his right shoulder. For being so completely crucial to our plan, the animal she'd become was fairly small and frail looking. It was about nine inches tall, with a white chest and black wings, along with a bright red head. But the thing that mattered was the long, sharp looking beak. Rachel had morphed into the woodpecker that she had acquired at the resort where we had stopped another of the yeerk plans. (So.) She announced almost casually. (Ask your host what a woodpecker is. See if you can figure out how fast I can get through that ear and snatch you right out of there if you don't let the human go. Think about the Vanarx. Yeerkbane. Do you want to face this planet's equivalent?)

Chapman froze instantly. It was almost funny, seeing one of the leaders of the yeerk invasion held completely powerless and terrified by a tiny bird that wasn't even a foot long. I guess the mention of the Vanarx, a creature that hoovered yeerks right out of the host's heads for supper, that Rachel had seen the Visser become on hologram when she was snooping around the Chapman's house had shaken him.

There are a lot of differences between human and yeerk. The most important one, in this situation, was the fact that yeerks won't keep fighting against difficult odds. If surrender looks like the more attractive option, a lot of the time, they'll do just that. They don't understand the human will to keep resisting. A human might have kept trying to find a way out of the situation with his hostage. Chapman just decided to cut his losses and slowly put Karen on the ground. Marco started to move to help her.

But I guess some yeerks didn't completely give up all the time. Because as soon as our attention was on Karen, Chapman's elbow snapped back and knocked Rachel off of him. She crashed to the dirt and he spun with his foot up to stomp on her small, helpless body. Jake roared and leapt, and I started to dive, but neither of us was close enough.

Someone else was though. Chapman reeled back and cried out as Melissa swept down and raked her talons over his forehead, leaving long jagged cuts. As he staggered, Rachel reoriented herself and shot up into the air quickly. She was moving erratically though, and seemed to be mumbling to herself, something about carrots. I think his elbow hit her pretty hard.

Marco had picked up Karen, who was calling him the mean monkey. He carried her quickly away from the confrontation. Chapman recovered just in time to be knocked flat on his back as Jake plowed into him. The tiger easily held Chapman helpless with a single paw on his chest. (My advice…) Jake informed him. (Stay down!) This was accompanied by a roar that shook the surrounding sheds. Chapman elected to stay down. I think he also elected to wet himself.

I landed on top of the armored truck. (Rachel, are you all right?)

She responded a bit hazily. (Mmmfine, just gotta find the Green Giant and give him his jolly peas back.) She giggled. (Jolly peas.)

(Rachel.) I turned my attention to her erratic loop as she flew in an oval, favoring her right side. (Maybe you should stop flapping for a bit.) I winced at the subsequent thud. (I uhhh… I meant land.) I swept down and landed next to her, prodding her a little with my beak. (Are you okay?)

The woodpecker opened its eyes and I heard Rachel giggle. (You're a pretty birdy. Pretty.)

(Right back at you.) I smiled inwardly, and then looked up as there was a commotion from the back of the lot.

Ax seemed to wince. (The reinforcement Hork-Bajir are attempting to escape their confinement. I do not know how long the inferior yeerk construction will hold them. We should leave as quickly as possible.)

"Yes, we should." My mother had emerged from the shed. She stood over Chapman, who gazed up at her in wonder.

"It's real." His voice had taken on an amazed tone. "You're her. The girl… the girl the host was taken with. Both of you. The dreams… the dreams are real. They must be. But how is this possible? There isn't a real memory in this head. We should be able to access it if there was. He says he has hidden it. I don't believe him. It is impossible to hide a memory from us. But the dreams are real. The dreams are there, so the memories must be there. But they're not. I've seen you in the pool. Then you were in the dreams. You were at the human hospital, but he knew you before then. He knew you from dreams, but the memories aren't there. What is happening? What is happening? Hosts cannot hide memories from us!"

"Shut up." Loren told him and knelt down, grasping his shoulders. "I'm not talking to you." Looking him straight in the eye, my mother said. "Hendrick." Her voice was soft. "Hendrick, you did the right thing. Whatever happens, however this ends, believe that. You made mistakes. Everyone does. But in the end, when you had something to care about, you did the right thing. Stay strong. The Andalites will beat them." Then she straightened up, and as Chapman started to sneer and open his mouth, brought her foot up into his face, knocking him silly. "Okay." She announced. "Now we can go."

Marco, who still had Karen in one hand, stooped to pick up Rachel from the ground. He carried them out of the lot. The rest of us followed. Once we were out of sight, Marco put Karen down and began to demorph. Once he was himself again, he prodded Rachel. "Time to morph out, Woody."

She took one look at him and recoiled. (Ugly monkey!)

Jake, who had resumed his human shape as well, sounded concerned. "I think we need to get Rachel to demorph. She seems really out of it. She can't even tell that Marco demorphed."

(Actually,) The delirium in Rachel's voice was gone. (I snapped out of it a minute ago. It's just really hard to tell the difference between a big smelly ape and Marco.)

*******************************************************

It was three days following that insane day, where I learned that my father was an Andalite War Prince, the same Andalite who had given us the responsibility, and the power that we now held. Three days since I met my mother for the first time. And now, I was going to say good bye. At least for awhile.

I was human at the moment. The two of us were sitting on the hood of the station wagon that she had somehow acquired. We were sharing a sack of greasy french fries between us. We watched the cars pass on the freeway. After a moment, my mother spoke. "You know I want to ask you to come with me."

My head shook. I'd spend a lot of time these past few days as a human, getting to know her, and getting to know my father through her. The old gestures were slightly easier to remember. "I can't. I have to keep fighting. I… I can't leave them."

She nodded, acceptingly, but still sadly. "And I can't stay. I have to keep moving. I can't let Chapman or the other yeerks find me. Us." She gestured toward the backseat of the station wagon where Karen slept. "Especially now that I have to keep her safe and out of their hands. If they find her, if they find either of us, it's over for you. It's over for earth."

"Then we found the perfect person to trust with her, and with our secret." I told her with a slight tremble to my voice that I didn't even try to help. "I just found you, mom. I can't… I want you to…" I trailed off.

"I know." Loren put her arm around me tightly. "Tobias, you are my son. Whatever happens, you are always welcome with me. You have my number. If you need me, I'll come to you. No matter what. And someday, when things are safe again… I… I want you to live with me."

It was too much. I did a completely unbirdlike thing. I turned to my mother and put my arms around her tightly, burying my face against her shoulder. "I love you, Mom." My voice shook with emotion.

Her arms held me tight, the french fries forgotten. "I love you too, Tobias. My son… I love you too."

A few minutes later, I stood in the parking lot of the diner, watching as my mother pulled the station wagon out. She raised her hand in a wave, that simple gesture of both greeting and farewell that was so apt in this situation. I raised my own hand to her and stood watching as the car joined all of the others on the freeway. I watched the car drive off until long after I couldn't see it any longer. This was why I hadn't let myself be in my hawk shape at this point. Because if I had been, I would have continued to follow that car until I couldn't fly anymore.

While I stood there, I slowly realized that I wasn't alone any more. I turned to find Rachel standing beside me. "How are you?"

"I'm…." I started to answer, and then paused. "I'm a lot of things. I don't know what I am. Happy. Sad. I forgot what it was like to be both at the same time."

"She's an amazing woman." Rachel offered as we both turned and started to walk away.

"You're just saying that because she's a lot like you."

Rachel shook her head. "Do me a favor. Never ever say that again."

That made me blink. "Why?"

Her shoulders shrugged. "Because… because with the way I feel about you, that's really weird."

"Oh yeah?" I couldn't resist poking the metaphorical bear with the stick. At least I hoped the bear stayed metaphorical. "How do you feel about me."

Now she was really blushing. She glared at me, but it wasn't an angry glare. Then she looked down. "I don't know. How do you feel about me?" She nodded, and I looked down to see that my hand had somehow found hers. I wasn't sure who had initiated it. Somehow, it didn't matter.

"Rachel…" I took a breath. Wow, this was hard. "I… I don't know… what exactly I'm going to be when this is over. Before I met my mother, I would have said that I didn't see a future after this war. But now I have, and… I'm still not sure what's going to happen. But I know that, whatever happens, I don't want to regret being too afraid to do… to say what I want to. And…" She was watching me expectantly, and I was sure that my clammy palms were soaking hers. "Since I've been… a hawk, I've… forgotten a lot of human gestures. But there's one I do know."

My hand touched her cheek, and as she lifted her head, I kissed her. It was short, a little awkward, and still somehow beautiful. I looked away just as quickly and flushed.

She was quiet for a moment before asking quizzically. "So uhhh, is that your best offer?" When my head swiveled back to her with a look of horror, she winked and squeezed my hand with a snicker.

"You're—" My voice was tight as I tried to decide whether to groan or laugh. I settled on both. "You're not gonna make any of this easy, are you?"

Rachel shook her head emphatically. "Nope."

I snorted and then stopped. "Good. Cuz if my life was ever easy… I think I'd be bored."

"Tobias…" Rachel said while turning to walk once more. "I promise you… I will never, ever let you be bored." We walked, and then we flew. Together.

I am human. I am andalite. I am hawk. I am all and none of those. I am more. I am Tobias.

I am free.

END

Next… Redux: The Suspicion

My name is Melissa…


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